To say I am excited would be an understatement.
I have snacks, drinks, band-aids and tape, friends, caffeine, and shoes all prepared for this weekend's dancing extravaganza...
Aug 10, 2011
Bachata Congress...
To say I am excited would be an understatement.
I have snacks, drinks, band-aids and tape, friends, caffeine, and shoes all prepared for this weekend's dancing extravaganza...
Aug 8, 2011
Home...
Last weekend I went home to celebrate my parent's 30th Anniversary.. We had a party with tons of people, a surprise mini-replica of their cake, picture boards, and lots of food and laughter.. It was a great day!.. Of course my parents take every large event in the summer as reason to fix, repair, or build something around the house, so we spent all of Friday making updates to the house.. which normally can get obnoxious, but since all of us were around and helping it really was kinda fun.. especially since I spent the majority of the day goofing off and "entertaining" the 3 little ones haha!
Friday night we went to see the new Planet of the Apes, which was alright. Not great, not horrible, decently entertaining. Then my little brother, his girlfriend, and my little sister and I played dutch blitz until WAY too late.. We had a blast making fun of each other for anything and everything. :)
Saturday was great and lots of fun catching up with everyone.. and I am pretty sure it was 30million degrees in the house due to the rain and already muggy weather! But, we all had a blast, and laughed a lot :)
Sunday my family (minus my older brother's family) went canoeing.. We had virtually every weather except snow while on the river, but had a blast trying and succeeding at flipping each other... except my parents who were the carrier of all stuff we didn't want to lose.. and "Switzerland" when it came to safe zone.. haha My little brother, sister, and my brother's girlfriend left with battle wounds from the rocks, elbows, knees, canoes, oars, and tree branches.. but had a blast the whole time, and definitely laughed at each other throughout the entire 4+ hour trip. My poor sister cut her toe on a rock, but thankfully it was near the end.. and my little brother just sorta picked her up and toted her around once we were done haha
I was reminded of a few things this last weekend.. First, my family is awesome. Not perfect, but awesome none the less... I am related to some crazies, and really thankful that distance allows me to miss them so I can actually look forward to and enjoy my time with them.. (instead of dreading their special brand of crazy). And, God is doing a lot in the lives of me and my family.. It is exciting and frustrating all at the same time!
I loved being home :)
Friday night we went to see the new Planet of the Apes, which was alright. Not great, not horrible, decently entertaining. Then my little brother, his girlfriend, and my little sister and I played dutch blitz until WAY too late.. We had a blast making fun of each other for anything and everything. :)
Saturday was great and lots of fun catching up with everyone.. and I am pretty sure it was 30million degrees in the house due to the rain and already muggy weather! But, we all had a blast, and laughed a lot :)
Sunday my family (minus my older brother's family) went canoeing.. We had virtually every weather except snow while on the river, but had a blast trying and succeeding at flipping each other... except my parents who were the carrier of all stuff we didn't want to lose.. and "Switzerland" when it came to safe zone.. haha My little brother, sister, and my brother's girlfriend left with battle wounds from the rocks, elbows, knees, canoes, oars, and tree branches.. but had a blast the whole time, and definitely laughed at each other throughout the entire 4+ hour trip. My poor sister cut her toe on a rock, but thankfully it was near the end.. and my little brother just sorta picked her up and toted her around once we were done haha
I was reminded of a few things this last weekend.. First, my family is awesome. Not perfect, but awesome none the less... I am related to some crazies, and really thankful that distance allows me to miss them so I can actually look forward to and enjoy my time with them.. (instead of dreading their special brand of crazy). And, God is doing a lot in the lives of me and my family.. It is exciting and frustrating all at the same time!
I loved being home :)
Aug 7, 2011
Aug 6, 2011
Aug 5, 2011
Aug 4, 2011
August Rush...
I cannot believe August is already well underway.. Summer has completely flown by, and shows no signs of slowing down until white water falls from the sky again!
Last night was my church's live recording of the God Anthology album. The music was written by the worship pastors for the 9 week series exploring attributes of God.. Mystery, Holiness, Faithfulness, Wrath, Sovereignty, Mercy, Beauty, Jealousy, and Love. It was an amazing night of worship, and the more I hear the songs, the more I love them!
Tomorrow I catch a plane home to see my family for the weekend and celebrate my parent's 30th wedding anniversary. I am really excited about this weekend!
Next weekend, starting Thursday after work I am full fledged dancing.. Back in January I bought a fairly cheap ticket to the Bachata Congress here in DC. Which means Thursday evening, Friday ALL DAY, Saturday ALL DAY, and Sunday ALL DAY I will be taking classes and dancing literally until my feet fall off... I am super excited and cannot wait for all the dancing, and time with my friend who introduced me to dancing!
Then sadly I have to work the following weekend as a committee Staff Liaison. Which, is not my first choice of things to do, but it will be great additional experience for me.
Then, thanks to the alternative work schedule we are doing for the month of August, I have/will spend every day at work 50 minutes early, to get 2 days off work.. plus with the collapse day for working over the weekend, I will have a 4 day weekend that will be spent in Atlanta with my bff and her husband. I cannot wait! It has been almost 9 months at that point since I will have seen her.. and that is just a really long time for us to go without seeing each other (while Skype certainly helps.. it does not solve the whole thing).
And then we are into September... whoa. August is rushing by!
Last night was my church's live recording of the God Anthology album. The music was written by the worship pastors for the 9 week series exploring attributes of God.. Mystery, Holiness, Faithfulness, Wrath, Sovereignty, Mercy, Beauty, Jealousy, and Love. It was an amazing night of worship, and the more I hear the songs, the more I love them!
Tomorrow I catch a plane home to see my family for the weekend and celebrate my parent's 30th wedding anniversary. I am really excited about this weekend!
Next weekend, starting Thursday after work I am full fledged dancing.. Back in January I bought a fairly cheap ticket to the Bachata Congress here in DC. Which means Thursday evening, Friday ALL DAY, Saturday ALL DAY, and Sunday ALL DAY I will be taking classes and dancing literally until my feet fall off... I am super excited and cannot wait for all the dancing, and time with my friend who introduced me to dancing!
Then sadly I have to work the following weekend as a committee Staff Liaison. Which, is not my first choice of things to do, but it will be great additional experience for me.
Then, thanks to the alternative work schedule we are doing for the month of August, I have/will spend every day at work 50 minutes early, to get 2 days off work.. plus with the collapse day for working over the weekend, I will have a 4 day weekend that will be spent in Atlanta with my bff and her husband. I cannot wait! It has been almost 9 months at that point since I will have seen her.. and that is just a really long time for us to go without seeing each other (while Skype certainly helps.. it does not solve the whole thing).
And then we are into September... whoa. August is rushing by!
Aug 1, 2011
All in The Family...
I was chatting with my mom yesterday about random tid bits from home, including paint colors she was letting dry to replace what my siblings and I affectionately called "Beige Hell" due to the fact that the entire house was painted some sort of beige/cream color... and has since remained so until my siblings and I at different times decided we could not handle it anymore and painted our bedrooms bright, vibrant or just plain pretty colors to break up the monotony that was beige hell.. aka home haha.. Then about a year ago my mom surprised ALL of us and painted the kitchen yellow. We were shocked.. and elated all at the same time... Currently my mom is in the process of changing several walls to a (as my sister calls it) mint green or chocolate pudding brown.. I am pumped to see it since my entire bedroom here in DC is a chocolate mocha brown.
Then my mom went into random thoughts about my brother and things going on with him, the upcoming anniversary party, and random things my sister has been doing that is really funny to help me prep for the party...
Then mom explained a situation that they are all facing. There is a chance (a good one) that another person will make an entrance into the family due to circumstances that need changing. Ironically, the last time this took place, he is still living there, refers to my parents as mom and dad, calls our place home, and honestly has lived there for almost the better part of 3 years now. He has grown up a lot since moving in with my family, and done a whole lot of stupid with my little brother.. but, somehow through it all God has used this situation to touch and make a difference to all of us in the family. As my mom put it when he moved back home after being gone for a while... it was contentment and peace feeling like "family" was where it was supposed to be. She and dad were shocked to find out he was contemplating changing his last name to ours... as ironically another girl who has since affectionately become another sister did.. well, that is until she got married. However, we are facing a new situation in the family, one that will certainly require a lot of prayer and wisdom on my parents part, but somehow there seems to be a lot of peace in the decision as well. The timing seems perfect too seeing as our other "brother" is getting ready to head to boot-camp for what is the beginning of a journey that has taken a while to get into... Which means there is a free bed to be had in my brothers room. God's timing is perfect.. and amazes me constantly..
However, today I was talking with my little sister about the situation, since she had brought it up asking if I had heard.. so I was getting her thoughts and opinions. Checking to make sure she was feeling ok about it all... Which not only was she ok about it, she was blowing me away with the maturity and clarity in which she sees the situation. Especially since there are certain aspects of home life that will have to change in order to accommodate the new member of the family.. And, most of those accommodations will have to be enacted on her as well.. She not only is aware of these new facts of her life, but welcomes them with the understanding and wisdom that many people my age could not fathom. She gets the bigger picture of what is at stake and what this means in an eternal sense. I am amazed. We also spent a while joking about my parent's unspoken game of "let's see how large we can grow our family without having any more babies!" ... If we look at this.. my family has suddenly ballooned from 6 to 7 after marriage, to 10 after their kids, to soon to be 13 if this situation pans out.. and really 14 with the marriage of one of the "siblings"... and 15 with an addition of a girl friend... Talk about multiplication of family! Sheesh!.. I mean really, talk about the love of Christ for my parents to have grown their family from 10 to 15 merely because they have chosen to love others unconditionally through pain, frustration, aggravation, laughter, birthdays, farts, roughhousing, furniture breaking, food... lots and lots of food bills, more activities than vehicles to take people, and more hugs than anyone but the Lord can count...
My parents amaze me with how quickly they jump in and not only accept these situations, but roll up their sleeves and prepare to be more intentional than most people ever know or realize.. My parents rarely do anything without thinking it through and calculating the cost... And amazingly they choose to do it and make the sacrifices anyway... All because they understand the Grace, Mercy, but mostly the unconditional Love they have received from Christ Jesus our Savior...
But, what amazes me even more is how much both my little brother and little sister truly and honestly get the fact that these situations mean something more than physically having another person in the house.. or having another person feel like home. They understand the greater purpose and the greater reason behind what my parents are doing... And, are not just ok with it, but fully supportive and accepting of the game changers these situations bring into the entire family as a whole.
It is all in the family, and there is no wonder why I am the way I am.. Or that I am so blessed.
Then my mom went into random thoughts about my brother and things going on with him, the upcoming anniversary party, and random things my sister has been doing that is really funny to help me prep for the party...
Then mom explained a situation that they are all facing. There is a chance (a good one) that another person will make an entrance into the family due to circumstances that need changing. Ironically, the last time this took place, he is still living there, refers to my parents as mom and dad, calls our place home, and honestly has lived there for almost the better part of 3 years now. He has grown up a lot since moving in with my family, and done a whole lot of stupid with my little brother.. but, somehow through it all God has used this situation to touch and make a difference to all of us in the family. As my mom put it when he moved back home after being gone for a while... it was contentment and peace feeling like "family" was where it was supposed to be. She and dad were shocked to find out he was contemplating changing his last name to ours... as ironically another girl who has since affectionately become another sister did.. well, that is until she got married. However, we are facing a new situation in the family, one that will certainly require a lot of prayer and wisdom on my parents part, but somehow there seems to be a lot of peace in the decision as well. The timing seems perfect too seeing as our other "brother" is getting ready to head to boot-camp for what is the beginning of a journey that has taken a while to get into... Which means there is a free bed to be had in my brothers room. God's timing is perfect.. and amazes me constantly..
However, today I was talking with my little sister about the situation, since she had brought it up asking if I had heard.. so I was getting her thoughts and opinions. Checking to make sure she was feeling ok about it all... Which not only was she ok about it, she was blowing me away with the maturity and clarity in which she sees the situation. Especially since there are certain aspects of home life that will have to change in order to accommodate the new member of the family.. And, most of those accommodations will have to be enacted on her as well.. She not only is aware of these new facts of her life, but welcomes them with the understanding and wisdom that many people my age could not fathom. She gets the bigger picture of what is at stake and what this means in an eternal sense. I am amazed. We also spent a while joking about my parent's unspoken game of "let's see how large we can grow our family without having any more babies!" ... If we look at this.. my family has suddenly ballooned from 6 to 7 after marriage, to 10 after their kids, to soon to be 13 if this situation pans out.. and really 14 with the marriage of one of the "siblings"... and 15 with an addition of a girl friend... Talk about multiplication of family! Sheesh!.. I mean really, talk about the love of Christ for my parents to have grown their family from 10 to 15 merely because they have chosen to love others unconditionally through pain, frustration, aggravation, laughter, birthdays, farts, roughhousing, furniture breaking, food... lots and lots of food bills, more activities than vehicles to take people, and more hugs than anyone but the Lord can count...
My parents amaze me with how quickly they jump in and not only accept these situations, but roll up their sleeves and prepare to be more intentional than most people ever know or realize.. My parents rarely do anything without thinking it through and calculating the cost... And amazingly they choose to do it and make the sacrifices anyway... All because they understand the Grace, Mercy, but mostly the unconditional Love they have received from Christ Jesus our Savior...
But, what amazes me even more is how much both my little brother and little sister truly and honestly get the fact that these situations mean something more than physically having another person in the house.. or having another person feel like home. They understand the greater purpose and the greater reason behind what my parents are doing... And, are not just ok with it, but fully supportive and accepting of the game changers these situations bring into the entire family as a whole.
It is all in the family, and there is no wonder why I am the way I am.. Or that I am so blessed.
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