New car!!!!

I am back in Houston and I have spent pretty much my whole time here (other than sleeping and eating) looking for a car to buy. Today my brother and I traveled all over Houston in search for the elusive used Rav 4. Apparently they didn't make enough of these or people love them too much to sell. Each dealership only had one or two. There were a frighteningly large amount of gold ones. I don't like the color gold. I think it is for pimps and grandmas. It looks especially dumb on an SUV. After two days of serious searching, I am now the proud owner of a 2001 silver (not gold) Rav 4. I am so excited!! My parents were troopers and stayed with me at the dealership until after 10pm. Unfortunately my insurance won't start until midnight tomorrow so I will just have to gaze lovingly at it in the garage tomorrow.

Oh well, I think I am going sailing with my brother, his wife and his friend, Robert Tyler so I won't need it anyway. Yay! Yay! I got a new car!!!!!!!

We were robbed

This morning I woke up to find that the window screen above our kitchen window was off. Also the bottles that reside on the window sill were moved and scattered about. One time I locked myself out and had to climb through the same window so I assumed that one of my roommates had done the same. Then I realized that both Holly and Jess's laptops were not in the living room like usual. After talking with them, we reaized that we had been robbed. Jess lost her laptop, though they left behind the power cord so it can't be used for long. Holly lost her laptop, iPod and about $15.

I feel so bad for them. None of my stuff was stolen. I'd always been wary of leaving my things in the living room since our house has large uncovered windows that give everyone who comes by a view of our living room.

Both Jess and Holly are having hard weeks so this especially sucks. Holly found out she has shingles, which is like gnarly painful chicken pox. Jess had to babysit some drunk co-workers last night and one puked in her car.

We called the cops and they came and dusted for fingerprints. I felt a little dumb for disturbing the crime scene. I have watched countless episodes of Law and Order so I certainly should have known better. I really hope Jess and Holly get their stuff back soon.

Test Drive

I am trying to see if posting pics on here works.

Leaving Sucks

I am getting really sad about leaving. Last week, I was focusing on some uncertain situations at home. Now, all I can think about is how sad I am to leave. All my other worries have faded away. I love these people here so much. I understand my life here and enjoy it. I am excited to go home but there is still a lot of uncertainty about how exactly my life will look there. I need to get a car, a job, a church and many other things. I know I am supposed to go home and that it will all work out but I hate not knowing all the details.

With that said, what is really getting to me is the leaving Maui and all these friends part. Tonight we had girls' staff growth group and they prayed for me and said nice things about me. It was nice but I was barely able to hold in the tears. Tomorrow there is a going away party for me at the base. There will be more sharing of nice things as well as snacks.

I should probably be packing more but my general denial of leaving makes that difficult. I seem to have accumulated an abnormally large collection of misc. stuff. I plan on giving lots of stuff away but it will still be a stretch to get it all home.

I am giving my website to some of my friends here so I will no longer have it. I will be posting pictures on a photo sharing website. Here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cloudhair

Family Reunion

I leave in 9 days! Wow! I am no longer in the double digits. I know that it is not yet real to me because I only know how long I have left when I look at my watch. I don't have much of a mental countdown going. I have decided instead of hiding, that I will just make lots of plans with people up until I leave. I am having a trashy tv night at my house as well as an office party. (Not for people who work in the office but for people who want to watch "The Office" with me. It should be good times. I also have a going away party for another friend and a birthday party.

On Wednesday night we are having a fun event. We usually have ohana dinners once a month. Ohana is Hawaiian for family and the dinners usually involve a theme and special food. Our last one was Mexican-themed. I dressed up and I have to admit, I looked awesome! Check out the pics on my website. We had lots of fun eating flan, hitting a pinata and dancing. The Macarena contest got a little wild and a little loud. Our neighbors already hate the fact that 50 young adults moved in next door. We can no longer have ohana dinners at our house because we are afraid they will call the cops.

We decided to get around this by having a family reunion-themed ohana. We are having it at a park nearby. The staff and students will be divided into "families" and we will compete in some family reunion-type games. I am excited. I think we are going to wear matching shirts. It doesn't get much better than that, huh? It will be a fun chance for us all to hang out before the students (and me) leave a week later. I am hoping for a potato sack race.

Sucks to Leaving

I am over this whole leaving thing. I have been feeling like I did when I graduated from college. For those of you who've been friends with me for awhile, you may remember how I wasn't too good at adjusting to that change either. It's not that I am not excited about my next step. I am just sad to leave this life. I am still having trouble socially. I still have to fight the urge to hide in my room, eat excessive amounts of sugar and watch episodes of The Office. I give in sometimes, but I have been hanging out with my friends a lot. I am now at the point where I need to start scheduling time to hang out with specific people or it's not going to happen. I was operating under the mistaken assumption that I could manage to spend time with all the important people by chance. I need to be purposeful with my limited time.

I am hoping to come back to Maui over next Thanksgiving break. I need to have an idea of when I will be back to make the leaving not as bad. I am also feeling torn between not wanting to leave and wanting to be home. I am a bit sad about not being home right now. My brother is home with the rest of my family and I feel like I am missing out. Luckily Andrew will be home for almost 2 more weeks when I get home before he goes back to Iraq. We didn't expect him to be home right now so it's a bonus no matter how much time I get.

In fun news, I went to a lingerie shower last night. I just love those things. It is a pretty funny concept when you think about it- girls giving their friend underwear and sexy lingerie. Sometimes it feels like the event is more for the perspective husband than the bride. Maybe next time I go to one, I should ask the husband what he would like. Except that could be a bit weird/awkward.

There is always a lot of blushing and giggling when the presents are revealed. I have never been to a non-Christian one of these but I can only imagine. Most of my friends have either never had sex or have at least never had sex with the guy they are marrying. This makes for some fun jokes. Last night the shower was for Sara Engler. I just love that girl. She got a lot of nice stuff. I usually try to go over the top with my gifts but the island has a very sparse selection. I only managed to find some edible pasties. Not up to my normal standard. I know when I get married, my friends will go over the top to pay me back for the scandalous gifts I gave them. I am a little scared!

This weekend I am going to try to get in some beach time as I am looking a bit pasty.

Dreaming of Beyonce

In the last two weeks I have had two dreams about Beyonce Knowles. I have no idea. I have never been one to have prophetic dreams but maybe she and I will meet. In the first dream, she was with the other members of Destiny's Child at a hotel after their concert in Houston. We were all hanging out and I got them to sing "Bug A Boo" to me.

The second dream was that I was in a liquor store with my friends, Laura Cole and Sarah Olthuis and Beyonce was there as well. She was having a hard time because she felt too much pressure to put out another hit. I tried to reassure her about all the other successes she'd had in the past. I also reminded her of her current hit song, "Irreplaceable." Beyonce was still feeling stressed and upset so she put her head in my lap and I stroked her hair to comfort her. So weird, huh?

On a non-Beyonce related note, I am going to be in my seventh wedding! My friend, Abbey is marrying fellow Maui Ywamer, Wil Brilinger. They are getting married on April 21 and only got engaged a week ago. This does not leave much time for planning. Abbey is one of the funniest brides-to-be that I have ever been around. She is so relaxed and chill about all the wedding decisions- maybe a little too relaxed. It has been fun to help her plan. The wedding will be in Canada and Abbey just realized that an outdoor wedding is out of the question in Canada in April. She is from Alabama and always pictured a beach wedding. That's not going to happen in Ontario either.

She found out that Wil wanted to have five groomsmen and wasn't sure who her five bridesmaids would be. I suggested myself and she thought that was a great idea. I pretty much invited myself to be in the wedding. Then she decided on Bethany and Amy because they are friends and because they are likely to be able to attend the wedding since they are from that part of Canada. She asked a friend from home to be her maid of honor. And then Kristy said she might come since she was already planning on being in Toronto then. Now she is a bridesmaid too even though she and Abbey barely know each other. The only real bridesmaid qualifications are a black dress and a plane ticket to Toronto. So funny! I think the whole thing will be a blast and I can't wait to go. I love weddings anyway and this one is shaping up to be a fun one. I am sure it will provide some good material for the book I have been trying to write.

Long time no post

The town I live in here is so random. It's hard for anyone to understand who has never been here. Last week I saw an old man closely resembling Santa Claus (long white beard, pot belly, etc) wearing nothing but a speedo and going into the post office. That is not normal.

There is also this bald lady who lives here that scares me. I see her reading the Bible but she is definitely not Christian. She hangs out at the local coffee shop, though I don't know how she has money. I don't know who would hire her to work. She sometimes follows YWAMers around hissing and whispering the word, "Satan." I have been wanting to talk to her but I am also scared. Today I was driving to the base and she was hitchhiking in that direction. I probably would have picked her up if I hadn't been alone but the thought of being alone in a car with her as she hissed at me, seemed too much to bear.

There is also a character here called Paia Dave. He is an old guy who used to wear a top hat. I unfortunately ran into him once at the nude beach. (I was just walking by, not sunning myself.) Thankfully, he was submerged in water up to his chest. Today the students had an outdoor worship time by the beach. Paia Dave stopped by (fully clothed) to listen to them jam. He has a reputation for being a bit too forward with the ladies. I had to bite my cheeks to keep from laughing outloud as I watched him watch the female student next to him. He couldn't take his eyes off her and she didn't look too interested.

I am definitely having issues with leaving this place. On one hand I am anxious to leave and see Andrew and it's not the same now that my YWAM best friend is gone. On the other hand, I still have a lot of amazing friends here, I get to live in Paradise, I get to serve God full-time and I get to see God move everyday. These mixed emotions cause me to act in two ways. I either want to spend as much time with people as possible or I want to hide in my room indefinitely and watch episodes of The Office. Now, this is a good show but it cannot take the place of socialization. For the most part I fight my hermit urges. In fact, my week is already packed with plans that involve other people. I just have to figure out how to balance hanging out with all these people while I still can with my need for privacy and reflection during this transitional time.