Open House and chemo

It's been far too long since I have written in this thing. Life is busy but I will try to be better because I hear from time to time that people still read this thing.

I will start with a Sarah update in case that is why you are reading this. She has gone through a ton of tests at MD Anderson and has a few more to go, I think. They did some mini-biopsies on Monday and tested two lumps in the boob and one in the lymph nodes. They were all cancer. I hate telling people this because they do the quick intake of breath that basically means- Damn, that's bad. Well, it is bad but I was encouraged by internet findings on the subject for once. It is pretty common for stage 2 breast cancer to affect the lymph nodes nearby. Breast cancer at Sarah's age is pretty much guaranteed to be more agressive than the type found in older women. It is still not fun news even though I had a feeling it was not just in her boob. Sarah had to drink barium, which I hear is like death. And from the look on Sarah's face, she agreed. She is not one to get sick so she is having a hard time with all this. Not that anyone is prepared for this, but Sarah never even gets a cold.

She just found out that she has to start chemo tomorrow. We knew it would come to this but we didn't expect it with only 24 hours notice. Please pray for Sarah as this latest rush development is a bit unnerving. They said she will probably start to lose her hair after 2 or 3 weeks. So, on Saturday we are going to go to a big flea market to buy a turtle for my classroom, that may or may not end up being named Gary, then we are going to this place that makes wigs out of your hair so they can cut her hair and then we will go find a place to watch the UT game. You know, a typical Saturday: turtles, wigs and college football.

So, on to non-cancer subjects- I had a little dinner party this weekend with my friend, Jane (used to be Jane Kim), her husband who I love- James, their friend, Matt and my friend, Esther. It was fun, the food was decent and no one got sick. Also I made some kick ass rice krispie treats. I may not be a gourmet chef, but I make a mean rice krispie treat. We hung out and had some trampoline time. Jane told me afterwards that Matt thought I was really cool and kept saying it. It's nice to know I've still got it. He doesn't appear to be a member of the Jesus club, which is my number one requirement. But, it's nice to have some positive male attention other than random construction workers and gangsta types at the mall.

School is going well. It's even easier than I thought it would be and I already wasn't worried. I think compared to the best friend having cancer, a room full of third graders, just isn't too scary. Tonight was open house. I didn't really know what to do since I have never been to an open house. I think I did ok. Some of my parents don't speak English and my Spanish is only passable. I think I got my point across. My kids are fun. The day goes by quickly and I don't have time to think about the worries in my life. It's funny how being the teacher is like being a celebrity. I was eating lunch and some of my kids came by and just stared at what I was eating. Then one girl says, "So, you like carrots, huh?" So funny. I also work on my lesson plans for about 10 minutes the night before. I am definitely flying by the seat of my pants. I plan to get it together and write at least a week's worth of lesson plans this weekend. I am doing fine this way but I will be a better teacher if I plan further in advance. Speaking of lesson plans, I should probably go work on mine now.

War and Internet Porn

So, I had a pretty good weekend. There was a good balance of people time and alone time and I got to hang out with a lot of different people. What more can you ask for? I have a lot of trips planned for the Fall so it is nice to have these relaxing weekends at home while I can.

I bought a lot of teacher stuff this weekend. My school gives us each $100 to start off the year, which is nice since I don't get paid until Wednesday. I shouldn't complain since my friend, Lee, works in another school district and doesn't get paid until mid-September. Not cool. Anyway, I did a lot of teacher shopping and I managed to stay out of the teacher supply stores. Those places freak me out even though I know there are probably many useful things there. I think this phobia is left over from when I was in my last year of college and didn't actually want to be a teacher. It's weird how much I find myself thinking like a teacher. It is rather scary, actually. I am coming up with lots of random ideas and bulletin board headings. As much as it freaks me out, it is nice to have an outlet for my creativity.

Today my friends, Jane and James came to my church. They just moved to Houston and I am excited to add them to my list of Houston friends. This list is actually quite long, though they are very scattered. I wish we could all just live in the same neighborhood. That'd be ideal. Our pastor is doing a serious about some of the big life issues. Last week, he talked about internet pornography. He has an unusual style of preaching. Most preachers start out with an assumption and then proceed to tell you how they came to that assumption step by step. Our pastor tends to think of an issue and then look at all the Bible has to say. Then he presents the information without really saying what his personal conclusion is. He wants to present the info and let us think for ourselves. I like this style a lot. Now, with the internet pornography, it was obvious that he was against it. Despite its prevalence in our culture, I think all Christians would say that it is wrong. He gave these interesting statistics: 40 million people regularly admit to looking at porn. 7 million of these are women. And 1/3 of clergy admit to regularly visiting porn sites. So, as I said earlier, it was pretty obvious what the pastor's opinion on this issue was. This week, on the other hand, wasn't as obvious as the topic was war.

Now, with my brother being a soldier in Iraq, this is a very personal issue for me. I almost dreaded hearing our pastor talk about it because I was afraid he might take the blanket non-war, pro-peace stance that so many Christians take. Unfortunately this stance is personal and not Biblical. Well, good old Pastor Rufus Smith IV did not let me down. He looked at the Bible first. A summary of his talk would be that there are times to defend and times to be gracious. I found myself fully agreeing with him and that felt good. He also spoke on a passage I had never noticed. In Luke 3:14, soldiers ask Jesus how they should live. Jesus does not say they need to quit their jobs. Instead he says that they need to be sure not to extort money or accuse falsely. I was already familiar with another passage where a centurian (soldier in charge of 100 men) is also not told to quit his job but is commended for his great faith.

There is nothing wrong with Christians who choose to be anti-war. But it is their choice and opinion. It is not Biblical.

Missing Maui

Warning to reader- This was written late at night and is fairly personal and highly reflective. If you are looking for humorous antecdotes, this is not the blog entry for you. Hopefully one of those will come again soon.

I really miss Maui right now. I know you are probably thinking, "Big surprise! Maui is paradise and people pay big bucks to vacation there." Well, when I say that I miss Maui it is more that I miss YWAM Maui and all the incredible people there. I was so unbelievably lucky to get to spend a year and a half with 50+ people who genuinely cared for me and would drop whatever they were doing in order to pray for me when I needed it. I also developed some incredibly deep and vulnerable friendships, and while we have sustained the friendships over the phone, it is not the same as being there to literally cry in each other's arms when necessary.

It's not that I have a lack of quality friends here. In fact, I feel lucky to that so many of my friends have settled in Houston recently. But, here in the real world, we all get so caught up in our own stuff that we can't fully be there for our hurting friends like we should. I wish that real life was more like my YWAM life.

Luckily God makes it clear why I am here in this time almost daily but it doesn't stop this longing I have to be in such a supportive, vibrant Christian community. It is hard to create that outside of a full-time living and working environment like YWAM. The other night I had some sort of nightmare where I awoke thinking I had to get back to Maui and soon. I don't even remember the dream but it sure felt urgent.

I am frustrated by all the change and unknown in my life. I like to be in control. I know ultimately that God is in control and if I didn't believe that I would probably have a nervous breakdown. I don't like change unless I am the one in control of the changing. I was supposed to teach 4th grade and now I am teaching 3rd. It really isn't a huge deal but in this very uncertain time in my life, another change really throws me off. I know ultimately that I will be teaching these specific kids for a reason but it sure would have been nice to know months ago when I got the job. There are obviously bigger concerns in my life.

My brother, the person I love the most in this world, is in the middle of a war. It is easy to pretend that it's not happening. I don't even pray for him enough because that would make it harder to delude myself. Bad men will continue to try to harm my little brother until January and that is just a fact. If I let myself think about it too much, I will implode.

And now Sarah, my best friend, has breast cancer. Right now is a time of not knowing the extent of the cancer or what will be done. It is endlessly scary. I truly am hopeful but I have also seen the reality of this disease. Mrs. Pilgreen, mom of my friends, Lee and Erin had breast cancer too. And she was of the age that is more likely to get it. She beat it once and then it came back and killed her. If that happens to Sarah, I just don't know what I will do. We have been friends more than half of our lives. Some people say, "God will heal her." But in the Bible, God promises to heal us but sometimes that is not this side of Heaven. And whether or not God heals Sarah does not affect His character or whether He is a good God or not. And yet I pray fervently for God's healing for Sarah. I do have hope that she will beat it and I plan to stand by her every step of the way. There are just no guarantees. If I could shave my head and guarantee Sarah a full recovery with no reoccurences, I would. In fact I would do just about anything. But that is not how life works. There are no guarantees especially with a beast like cancer. Lance Armstrong had cancer all over his body and then won the Tour de France. And Mrs. Pilgreen died before seeing her grandchildren grow up. My grandma had ovarian cancer in her 40's and lived to be 93, And Jorie Zemel died of bone cancer at 14. There are no guarantees one way or the other and I HATE IT!

To combat the worrisome stress in my life, I am working out like a fiend. My mind may be troubled but my body will look good. Of all the things people turn to in order to relieve frustrations, working out is a good bet, I think. It's definitely better than getting drunk or not eating or sleeping all day.

I once read a quote and I liked it so much that I wrote it in my Bible-
"We act as though the purpose of our prayers is to inform God of our need rather than to confess that we depend utterly on Him to provide what He already knows we need." I totally agree. It is about surrendering our desire to be in control and letting God take His proper role in our lives. So, God I surrender these people I love up to you. I trust you with Andrew and I trust you with Sarah. I also surrender my desire for a husband and especially the desire to know who that husband will be. I surrender my desire to teach fourth grade since I have now been reassigned to third. But most importantly I surrender my desire to be in control. You know so much better than I do and I thank you that I am not like those without hope.
"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." 1 Thess 4:13
Thank you God that with you I have hope.

B-O-R-I-N-G

I had yet another day of teacher training today. This one was probably the worst. The lady leading it was nice but her niceness could not make up for the innate boringness of the topic. It was a full day about PDAS- a system that administrators use to observe and critique a teacher. The dumbest part of the whole thing for me is that they just made it sound like you needed to do all this stuff to get a good observation. I don't want to change the way I do things to fit within an observation framework. I want to be a good teacher and be evaluated for what I do every day.

We are supposed to dress "business casual" for all these affairs. This is a bit of an ambiguous term especially in the non business teaching world. I have seen quite a wide spectrum of "business casual." Some people show up in business suits. Others go for slutty short skirts and cleavage displaying tops. There was one guy wearing long jean shorts and a plain t-shirt 3 sizes too big with all white Air Force One sneakers. I doubt that would fly in a traditional office. No one seems to be enforcing the business casual so maybe I will just show up in my bikini for the last day. Or maybe not.

My class today had nine teachers from my school. That's a lot of new teachers. The weird thing is that one of the other girls said she was going to be the 4th grade reading teacher. That is the position I was offered. I looked on the school's website and it lists me as a third grade teacher. Strange. You would think the principal would have told me. Pretty shady if you ask me. It looks like I might be teaching third grade now but I don't even know. It's like my life is just perpetually changing. But the irony is that I HATE CHANGE! I am sure if I teach third grade, it will be for the best but I feel like a victim of the old bait and switch. And I won't be in the fourth grade teacher club with my buddies, Emily Hardin and Lee Pilgreen. I will keep you posted.

It was good to meet some of the other teachers at my school. They are all pretty young and seem pretty fun. They seemed equally bored by the seminar. Next Monday we all meet at the school for some bonding and more inservices. We are also scheduled to do some sort of team building at the Culinary Institute. Maybe it will be like Top Chef. That could be fun. I hope they ask us to make Lean Pockets. I am really good at that.

Teacher Training

I will start with the latest on Sarah. She is scheduled to see a doctor from MD Anderson, a world class cancer hospital here in Houston. The doctor specializes in young women with breast cancer. Her appointment is in two weeks. In the meantime, they are testing the lump at their labs since it's common for other labs to make mistakes. We should get the lab results back in the next few days. They seem to think this is less urgent than the other doctors and they are the specialists. They are also saying they prefer to shrink the cancer and don't always recommend something as radical as a double masectomy. I will keep you posted.

Today I went to my second day of teacher training. This one seemed far more beneficial than the first one. The first one was for new HISD employees and at times felt like an HISD pep rally that no one really wanted to attend. They kept telling us what a good choice we had made. After about ten times, I started to think the over-reassurance could mean I'd made the wrong choice.

This training was for elementary school teachers new to the district. I was in a room with only fourth grade teachers and we were given a lot of information that will be helpful for setting up a classroom. I learned most of this in school but it's been four years and I certainly could use the refresher. I especially needed the part about classroom management. I am good at getting kids pumped up but not as good at calming them down.

During the lunch break, I decided to get food at the food court of Sharpstown Mall. I used to live in that part of town and remember going to that mall as a child. Apparently the area has changed a lot. It looked like most stores were either selling athletic shoes in colors I didn't even know existed or selling bling. For those of you without an adequate ghetto vocabulary- bling is flashy jewelry. There was a sweet silver Spam can-sized belt buckle featuring a bejeweled outline of the state of Louisiana. Now, that was hard to pass up. I am normally fairly unfazed by things going on around me but today I noticed all the young men looking me up and down. One guy said, "hey," and without thinking, I said, "hey" back. Big mistake. Then, he says, "Hey baby." And proceeds to look me up and down. I started walking quickly and luckily he continued on. This was not the best choice of lunch location but I survived.

After lunch I went to a room full of people trying to give me free stuff and get me to sign up for things. I came away with a lot of free candy and pens. Pretty sweet deal. I also signed up to win some free iPods but I think I will end up getting some annoying solicitation phone calls instead. I did win a laminated chart to assign classroom managers and a book about teaching Math. Too bad I will be teaching English.

I also noticed at the end of class that one of the guys in the room will also be teaching at my school. I didn't have time to say anything to him but I will definitely look for him at the next training. He seems fun and not too dorky, which is good. I'd like to have more male friends since mine keep getting married.

Camp continued

My mind is pretty consumed by the whole best friend having cancer thing right now but I do want to write more about camp. So, here it is:

The camp had about 150 teen mothers. Most brought babies, but some were pregnant, or left their babies at home or had their babies taken away. I heard of one cabin where two different girls had babies with the same guy. Now, there is some guaranteed drama.

The babies slept in the cabin with us. Thank God for ear plugs. I think the Lord blessed me with the ability to block a lot of the noise out. The girls got to do lots of fun activities both with and without their babies. A lot of them don't seem to know how to have fun with their babies. They know how to take care of them but not how to enjoy them. We completed a ropes course, rode mountain bikes, went swimming, played goofy and messy games, sang and danced. It was so cool to see them acting like kids. Our girls ranged in age from 14 to 19. Some of them had their babies in Jr. High. I was just finished playing with Barbies when I was their age.

Some of the leaders from the camp told their life stories and then had a question and answer time afterwards. One leader told of her own teenage pregnancy and how she got her life together and ended up marrying a 25 year old virgin Young Life leader. Another told of how she was sexually abused by her grandfather throughout her childhood and how it took a long time to share that secret with people. During the question and answer time, a girl from another school stood up and asked, "How do you know when it is time to share your secret?" This hurt my heart so bad and I didn't even know her. We estimate that 90% of these girls were sexually abused. That stuff can contribute to teen pregnancy.

It was fun to hang out with the girls but hard too. I don't think I am ready for kids anytime soon. I am sure it is different when they are your own and there aren't 20 of them.

The speaker at the camp had been a teen mother herself and was great at relating to the girls. Many of them became Christians, which is super exciting. And as usual, when they told us to cheer for the new Christians, all I could do was cry.

After camp, we went to the Grand Canyon. It was really crazy. Only about 3 or 4 of the girls were interested beyond looking over the edge for five minutes and taking one picture. The girls started complaining a lot and none of them brought enough water for the babies. Everyone was a bit grumpy. Then we read the map wrong and had to walk about a mile along the sied of the road. Picture it- five adults, fifteen teen moms, and 17 babies. It was even more impressive in a single-file line. A tour bus passed us and I heard the tour guide exclaim, "Well, now I have seen everything." Too funny!

Cancer makes me want to throw up

So I just found out that my best friend, Sarah Stojanik McGregor (I wanted to fully clarify since I collect friends named Sarah), has breast cancer. At first I was shocked, then I cried a lot and now I just feel like I want to throw up.

She found a lump in her boob and the doctors assumed it was a fairly common condition where the breasts make harmless little cysts. Sarah had a big lump so they took it out. There was little talk of the possibility of cancer. The big C was not likely at all. Sarah is only 26. She'd be the first to admit that she isn't particularly well-endowed in the boob dept. She eats healthy. She's thin and does not have a family history of cancer.

Well the doctor who took the lump out in an outpatient surgery thought it seemed sticky. None of know what a sticky lump means but she didn't seem particularly conerned. Well apparently a sticky lump is bad because they tested it and it's cancer. Sarah is going in for another appt. tomorrow and they will schedule an MRI to see if the cancer is in other parts of her body.

I still can't believe this is true and I still want to throw up. Please pray!!!!!

Traveling with Twenty Babies Part 1

I just got back from Young Lives camp in Arizona. We took five leaders, fifteen teen girls and twenty babies. As you might assume, it was pretty crazy. We flew from Houston to Phoenix. It was the first time on a plane for many of the girls. You should have seen the looks on people's faces as they discovered that they were flying on a plane accompanied by twenty plus babies. They were not excited. They asked dumb questions like if we were a baby convention or one lady thought we were a family. A family with fifteen teen girls and twenty babies? Yeah, right!

Before we left I had only had random short-term experience with babies. Some of my friends have them now and I babysat a lot as a child. But I had never been with so many babies for such an extended period. I guess most people haven't. When we got to Phoenix we boarded a charter bus and headed to a Pancho's restaurant. The place was not prepared for the large volume of babies. We used every high chair they had.

Then we picked up a group from Colorado Springs and headed to camp. The babies were pretty crazy and the ones who could walk, ran up and down the aisles. We got to camp after a few hours and made our way to the cabins. My cabin had three leaders, eight girls and eight babies. One of our girls was pregnant and one had two babies. I ended up helping the girl with two babies quite a bit. She definitely had her hands full with a 3 month old and a two-year old. I hung out with the two year old, Junior. We became good friends. He is a really funny little guy and he kept running on stage and dancing. He became pretty popular because of these antics.

Moving and leaving

I moved into my new place yesterday. It is awesome, if I do say so myself. Although, neither of my roommates were able to fit their beds up the stairs so they are sleeping on mattresses on the floor like many boys do when they are in college. I am on the first floor so I don't have to worry. I got a lot of help from my parents, Shella- my sister-in-law and even Shella's dad. We got a lot done and everyone was very nice to each other. I was even nice despite getting only two hours of sleep the night before after an extreme caffeine overdose. I couldn't have done it without their help. I am trying to get everything set up so I don't freak out when I get back from camp.

Speaking of camp, I leave tomorrow and I don't feel too prepared. I don't know how to feel prepared to take a group that contains about 15 girls and 20 babies. Luckily I am not the only leader, nor am I the one in charge of it all. It's going to be crazy. After camp in Arizona, we are going to the Grand Canyon. I hope the teen mothers are bringing those little child leashes for the babies. I can't wait to see the fellow passengers' faces when we get on the airplane. It will be simply priceless.

I better go continue to straighten and organize. I get back on July 30 and you guys will have to come visit my new party pad.

Unconventional Reunions

Yesterday I got to hang out with some of my favorite people- Josh and Ashley. For those of you who may not know, last year when I led the team to Bangladesh with Matt Laskey, there was another team that went to Nepal- led by the above mentioned Josh and Ashley. Our teams spent three months together before going to our separate countries. Too many crazy things happened in those three months and the four of us became very close. We call ourselves, "withness," which was a phrase our friend, Maria felt was going to apply to the school. Anyway, I will always have a deep love for my fellow leaders during that time and getting to see them was awesome. The funny thing is that we hung out at the airport for about two hours. They were on the mainland visiting various family members and had a layover in Houston. It was so good to catch up and not weird other than the fact that we were hanging out in the airport. I knew it would be good to see them but I was not expecting the sadness I felt after they left. I felt like crying. I really miss Maui sometimes and the amazing friendships I developed there. I am planning a trip there over Thanksgiving break. I don't know if I could handle not having something in the works.

I have been lucky to see several fun YWAM friends since I have been home. Here is the lowdown:
-I went on a roadtrip with fellow staffer, Rebekah Richoux to visit my now pregnant student, Kelli. I drove ten hours roundtrip to spend a couple of hours at Kelli's house but it was worth it.

-I get to see Dinah most Sundays because we go to the same church.

-Megan, a student from the Nepal team, came into town to meet a friend. We met up for coffee at Fry's the electronics store.

-Britany Chaney and Megan Labay surprised me at work but could only stay a few minutes. It was painfully short but it made my day.

-My student, Katrina, came in town to visit her cousin and we went out to eat at Chuy's.

I hope this trend continues. It is so good to be reunited even if it is random and brief.

Things to ponder

Lately I have been thinking about buying a house. I am really not in the financial position to buy the kind of house I would like. I have been watching too many of those tv shows where they buy old houses and fix them up and sell them for profit. They make it look so easy! I also think I just hear about so many of my friends buying houses that I think it is time for me to buy one too. I keep having to remind myself that most of my friends are about four years ahead of me in the normal support yourself adult world. Since college, I have traveled the world but I have not lived on my own and supported myself. I need to work and support myself before I try to buy a house.

There is a lot of good stuff happening in my life and the lives of people I love but there is also a lot of hard stuff. Here are some of the big prayer requests:

-Holly was attacked and sexually assaulted while she was running in Maui. A good samaritin stopped the guy before he could rape or abduct her. She is obviously pretty shook up.

-Amy's dad got fired without warning and now has to find a new job.

-Sarah has to have surgery to remove a lump in her breast.

-Maria and Dempsey are dealing with some really hard issues in their marriage.

-Kelli is eight months pregnant but starting to have contractions. She just found out that her dad was cheating on her mom and using drugs. Her parents are getting divorced.

-My brother is still in Iraq.

I am sure there are other things I forgot to mention. This just feels like one of those lots of change times- both good and bad. I don't like change to much. I hope to enter one of those peaceful, everything's boring times sometime soon. I hope it happens soon, I don't know if I can take much more bad news.

New Passion

I have a new passion. Many of you know that I am quite the mullet aficionado. I like to spy people with lovely mullets and take pictures of them. While I still enjoy a well-kept or unusual mullet, mullet hunting lost some of its allure when I lived in Maui. You see, Hawaii is mullet country and it is not at all difficult to spot a mullet. They became too commonplace. My new hunting subject is trucks with painted tail gates. I have not seen many of these outside of Texas but I wouldn't venture to say that they are common here.

The usual painting is done in airbrush. It is usually a depiction of lovely scenery and the best examples show the actual truck in the middle of the scenery. I have decided to start collecting pictures of these trucks. Below is an example and I hope there will be many more to follow.

This example, though without a depiction of the truck itself, really lets us know a lot about the truck's owner. He or she is clearly into cock fights as this is the center of the piece. I am assuming the person's last name is Contrares. These tailgates are found more often that not in the Hispanic community. This particular piece also shows cards and dice, showing the driver's love of gambling. He or she apparently also enjoys music. Keep your eyes open for your own specimins.

I'm not in YWAMland anymore

This week I really felt the contrast between working at the surf shop and working with a full-time ministry. In YWAM, if someone was having a hard time emotionally, it was okay for them to take off work and they were guaranteed to have several people pray for them. I was fairly emotional before I left and it was great to be in such a nurturing environment where it was okay to cry, be vulnerable and let others help you.

One of my co-workers at the surf shop was having a bit of an emotional breakdown this week. I am not going to give any details but she was having a really hard time not bursting into tears at work. As her manager, I tried to talk to her and see what was wrong. She confided in me a part of what was going on in her life. To me, it seemed the answer to all her problems is Jesus. He has brought joy, peace and hope into my life and I know He would do that for everyone if they would just surrender to His will. This is not something a manager can really communicate to an employee during work hours. It was also obvious that she wasn't really interested. I did ask if she wanted me to pray for her. I had hoped I could pray for her out loud but she wasn't comfortable with that so I prayed for her in my head for the rest of the night. At YWAM, I would have prayed for her and I am sure her mood would have improved.

My fellow co-workers, who are nice people, had no sympathy or grace for her. They cited their own difficult lives and basically wanted her to suck it up. Not the same attitude as my YWAM friends to say the least. I miss that loving and nurturing environment so much that it hurts sometimes. And yet I know I am where I am supposed to be.

Attending the Gay Pride Parade with dear old dad

As this title implies, I did attend a gay pride parade with my dad this weekend. I invited other people to go but my dad was the only one interested and available. This was actually my second time at the gay pride parade, though the first time with my dad.

I went once with friends after our Sunday night church service before my parents moved to this side of town. If memory serves me right, I was accompanied by Jocelyn, Neha, David Ray and a shy guy from our church named Matt Whitfill. The parade is pretty amusing. That year, Matt Whitfill just stood behind us and giggled. I think he was a bit nervous. David Ray, on the other hand, was very confident of his heterosexuality. He cheered and waved quite a bit in order to obtain some of the goodies being thrown from the floats. Inexplicably he had his eye on a larger than average strand of rainbow mardi gras beads and was determined to get them. He cheered and danced around. But the bearer of the beads told him he would have to do a lot more than that to get those beads. Eek!

A group of old lesbians came by and apparently one took a liking to Jocelyn. Jocelyn's arms were open wide as she was clapping. A grey haired lesbian mistook the open arms for a hug invitation and went in for the kill. Jocelyn was confused by the hug at first but then shrugged and went with it. It was good times and we came away with an assortment of free rainbow colored trinkets including a rainbow gallery furniture shirt, which my grandpa later wore.

This year's parade was good although there was sometimes too much down time between floats. I expected to see some people I know. A large number of my store's patrons are gay as well as current and former employees. Also I have learned from myspace that a disconcerting amount of girls I played with or against in basketball through the years are now playing for that team. Unfortunately I did not see anyone I knew. There were just too many people to be able to really see. My dad's favorite float- Lesbians over 70 was not in the parade this year. They did have lesbians over 50 but that wasn't good enough for my dad. There were some guys dressed like take-out Chinese food. They looked pretty cool.

I managed to snag a decent amount of free condoms. I don't have any use for them other than as water balloons. They do make some amazing water balloons. You should definitely give it a try. I also got something called a dental dam, which I had learned about in sex ed in high school. My dad didn't know what it was and wanted me to explain it to him. Eek! I refused. If you are wondering what it is, look it up on the internet, cuz I am not typing it.

My dad was almost flirting with the ladies next to us. I think not having my mom by his side meade my dad feel a little vulnerable. It didn't help when a guy in the parade who was around my dad's age instead of throwing a beaded necklace, handed it to my dad with a knowing look. My dad immediately gave the beads to the girls standing next to him.

Overall it was a lovely parade and you all missed out. I will be posting pics soon.

South Padre Summary

Last weekend my family went to South Padre and I haven't gotten a chance to write about it yet. Well, here I go.

My family has been going to South Padre almost every summer for the last 15 or so years. My dad is a lawyer and there is a law conference there every year. My favorite times there were when I was in high school and we rented a big 3 bedroom condo on the beach. I got to bring friends and along with Andrew, we had the time of our lives. We'd boogie board all day and hang out. I have so many great memories from then.

This time we stayed at the Raddison and had some nice beach and pool time. There is a shrimp boil every year with kareoke. Somehow I convinced Shella to get up and sing Gansta's Paradise with me. It was pretty hilarious. Two white girls rapping. The crowd was more into oldies like "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Only the younger crowd seemed to understand the full humor of the situation. I still don't have my emotions turned on so it was no big deal for me but I was proud of Shella for having the guts to go for it.

This was my first family South Padre trip without my brother. It was a little weird. His wife came as his representative. I think we were all in a bit of a weird mood because we missed Andrew. I know his time in Iraq has made me want to make the most of our time together when he gets back. Family time just doesn't seem like family time wihout him.

We've decided that it would be too hard to do a traditional Christmas while Andrew is in Iraq. Last year was just really difficult. There is talk of going on a cruise or to Costa Rica. I think I could manage to have a good time in Costa Rica. I hope it works out.

Matt Laskey is engaged to a Kirk

I just found out that my dear friend, Matt Laskey asked our fellow YWAMer, Bethany Kirk to be his wife. Matt is one of my best guy friends. We were part of a team to New Zealand, served on staff in Maui together and then led a team to Bangladesh and Thailand. I am so excited for him. I think he and Bethany will be very happy together. This is another wedding I cannot miss. Matt is like a brother to me and I really enjoy Bethany as well. It looks like it will be in Toronto, so I will get to see my Ywam best friend, Amy. Yay!

I have to tell of the funny thing that happened when Matt proposed. When he told me the following story, I almost soiled myself. Here is a little background that is good to know in order to understand the full humor of the situation-
Amy and Bethany's dads are brothers and they have the same last name- Kirk. When Amy left Maui, Bethany took over her cell phone.

So, Matt borrows Bethany's phone and dials "Dad." He asks if he is speaking to Mr. Kirk. After confirming that he is, they participate in a little small talk. Matt can't wait any longer and asks Mr. Kirk if he can marry his daughter. Mr. Kirk says, "I do have a single daughter but I think you are looking for Bethany's dad." It turns out Matt had accidentally asked Amy's dad if he could marry her. So funny!! Finally Matt got the right Barry Kirk and permission was granted. This will make a great family story for years to come.

Camp- A little late

I just got back from my family vacation to South Padre but I never really wrote about my week at Young Life camp in North Carolina. So, I am going to write about that first and hopefully I will make time to write about Padre in the near future.

Camp was a great week for me. I had joked to several of my friends that I was going to meet the love of my life there. This did not happen. The funny thing is that I made the same claim when I went with fellow Maui staff members to a YWAM gathering on the big island. Right before we left for that, I got sick and lost my voice. I ended up only talking to people I knew so I wouldn't have to explain my weird puberty voice. Just like that time, I got sick and lost my voice before this trip. God continually reinforces my belief that He has a sense of humor.

I did, like the last time I went to camp, develop a mini-crush on the guys who did the program there. There is just something about guys who can be genuinely funny and make fools of themselves for the amusement of teenagers. I love guys who love Jesus and can make me laugh. Unfortunately for me, all the program guys were happily married. Young Life camp always puts on a great program. They even did a parody of the OK Go video with the guys treadmill dancing. It was very well done. My kids didn't fully appreciate it since it's not really the kind of music that they listen to.

Last time I went to camp, I knew I was going to Maui soon so I wouldn't get much more time with my girls after camp. This time I knew I would be able to be physically there for the next year. Camp is such a great time to get to know them better. I am excited about next year. There are lots of fun things to do at camp but my favorite part was hanging out with the girls. They are so much fun! I impressed them with my knowledge of rap music.

One night in the cabin, some of the girls who have incredible voices, were singing various soul tunes by Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, etc. When one of the songs ended, I asked if they could sing "Big Bootie Hoes." They died laughing. They definitely didn't expect that to come out of my mouth. It was awesome!

The week was great for my relationship with God. Before camp I was in the bad habit of spending too much time thinking about fun memories and people from my past or imagining fun events and milestones in my future. At camp, I was really in the moment. That's a much healthier way to live. I also made God my default setting. What that means is that I thought about Him when I had time to think instead of thinking about other random less important things. I want to continue to live like that.

Back from Camp

I spent the last week in North Carolina at Windy Gap, a Young Life camp there. It was fun, relaxing, and spiritually rejuvinating. It also involved two 20 hour bus rides. So, instead of writing about it now, I am going to chill and sleep. I will try to write soon.

Happy Days

Yesterday was a great day. I found out the night before that I got the job I wanted. I had interviewed at two different schools and one was clearly my first choice. The not so good school had the following qualities:
-Someone got car jacked in the parking lot two days before I visited
-There were posters of local child sex offenders displayed in the halls
-It is located in an area where an unidentified man has been breaking into people's homes and laying in bed with women, fondeling them and himself and then running away when they wake up. Eek!
-Also the teachers seemed worn out and tired.
-I would have had to teach 5th grade all subjects.

I got an email from the principal of the school I want that says they want me and that they will contact me to fill out all the paperwork next week. YAY! No more job interviews! I didn't mind them as much as the average person since I am devoid of emotions but they were a time inconvienence. It is also great to know where I will be next year. This school is only two years old and no teacher has taught more than six years so everyone is still young and fresh and passionate about what they do. I will also have my ideal position- 4th grade- Language Arts. So, I am pretty pumped! I am antsy to sign the papers so it feels official.

Yesterday I got to go to the beach with Neha, Thama and Katie H. It was great to be back there even though it doesn't compare to Maui. I really like Galveston even though it gets a bad rap. The waves were messy and choppy but I was still able to teach Katie to surf. It's always cool to see someone stand up for the first time. I am also getting excited about moving in with Katie for the Fall. We are hoping to find a house in the Heights with wood floors, a porch and A backyard with room for a trampoline. We'll never want to leave the house.

I also just realized that I leave for YoungLife camp in a week. June has snuck up on me big time. I am excited about going but I need to get used to the idea that it is about to happen.

Enticing Offers

I have been super sick this week. It's not as bad as when I had Dengue fever but it is still no fun. Some people say Christians should never be sick and use the phrase, "We are healed by His stripes" to justify this belief. But they are misusing it. That phrase is refering to our sins being healed not our physical healing. I am definitely sick. I spent the last two days in bed and I have used two full boxes of Kleenex. I missed one day of work and had to reschedule a teaching job interview. Things are beginning to look up, though. Today I felt well enough to go to the interview and go back to work.

My teaching interview went pretty well but I am not sure if I want to teach at this particular school. The teachers and principal seem nice but the area is a bit shady. It didn't feel that shady until I found out that some woman almost got car jacked in the parking lot two days ago. They also had fliers with the faces of local registered sex offenders posted where the kids get picked up. I am glad they're aware, but it's kind of scary. I am still in the interview process at another school that I think may be a better/less likely to be assaulted fit. We'll see though. The next interview at that school is on Monday. I just want to know where I will be. I hate waiting.

Tonight I worked until 10pm at Soundwaves. It's been a long time since I worked at night at Soundwaves. It's always an amusing experience since we are located in Montrose- the weirdest and gayest part of Houston. I helped a big older black guy look for some cds. He told me, "I like your hair." To which I said, "Thanks, sometimes it turns into a 'fro." Then he said, "I think I'd like that too." Red flag. He kept refering to me by name, which he cleverly discovered on my nametag. He asked if I liked to go out. I told him that I am super busy, always working. He asked if I had any time to have fun. I told him no. He asked me if I was married and I told him, "Pretty much." (Does Jesus count?) Then he asked if I had any friends who liked to go out. (Maybe ones who also have frizzy hair, perhaps?) I told him that they are pretty much all married.

I read a book once by a lady who was clearly not a Christian, who went on dates with anyone who asked her for a year. She lived in New York City and ended up going on over 100 dates and slept with an alarming number of them. If I had been playing her game, I would have had to say yes to the random guy tonight. Thank goodness I wasn't. It's not that I didn't want to go out with him because he was black. Sometimes I actually prefer black people to white people and I would definitely go out with a suitable black guy. No, the reason I wasn't interested had more to do with the fact that he looked 40 and that he worked as a truck driver. So, I am not a racist but maybe an occupationist. Is that bad? I have recently determined that my kind of guy loves Jesus, is sporty, and is the kind of guy who would work at a summer camp, be a Younglife leader, serve with YWAM or be a teacher. Truck driver is simply not on the list.