So it was a lot of fun to catch up with my friend Amanda. We shared memories that know one else can relate to so that was super fun. Yesterday I found out that my uncle has facebook. NO KIDDING, MY UNCLE. I was exceedingly suprised. This weekend will be one of my last free weekends before basketball season starts. I am going yardsaling tommorrow morning early with my friend Hannah, then later in the day I am going with the youth group to Clarksville to go caving. I also will be spending some time cleaning my house which hasn't been done in a while. I also need to collect all the walnuts in the backyard and mow the grass, hopefully for the last time until spring. I HATE mowing, mainly because I can't breath afterwards. This week has been really busy, Monday night I went to dinner at the house of a family that goes to my church. That was a really good time, it was also good to talk to Alice the wife, and gain some insight about some things that have been heavy on my heart concerning my cell group. Then Tuesday I watched the US women beat Nigeria with the daughters of the family I ate dinner with on Monday. Then Wednesday I had cell group which was really good, emotional but good as we talked about some hard stuff about how we treat each other. Then Thursday my friends had a whole bunch of family and friends over to celebrate the final adoption hearing for their daughter. So tonight I am planning on trying to get some of those chores I need to get done done so that by Sunday I can rest because I am VERY tired.

Make new friends, but keep the old...

In a few minutes I am leaving to go to St. Louis to watch a Cardinals game with people who have become dear friends in the last 2.5 years. Meeting us at the game is someone I can't remember not knowing. She was my best friend in preschool. Our birthdays are just days apart so we used to have joint birthday parties. Our mom's felt it was silly to have two parties that were exactly the same. We even shared birthday cakes. We used to play for hours together, and our moms would forget if we were at my house or hers. One time in the 1st grade we broke into an empty house and painted the garage. Got grounded for a month. In about 2nd grade she moved with her parents to Dhahran. My mom used to put me on the Aramco bus and I would ride there by myself, her mom would meet me and we would spend the weekend together. Then the next time she would ride the Aramco bus to Ras Tanura. Then in 4th grade the war came. My mom, brothers, and I spent the year in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan while my dad was in Saudi. Her family chose to move back to Spokane, Washington. The summer between fourth and fifth grade, I flew unaccompanied minor by myself to Spokane to spend a week with her. We went to her family cottage in Priest Lake, ID where she recently had her marriage celebration. For the next several years, even in highschool. We corresponded through letters. Yes we wrote letters back and fourth. Some where around the beginning of college we kinda lost touch. I mean our mom's still send Christmas letters, but Amanda and I lost touch. So a few months ago when she found me on facebook, I was suprised and excited. Today she is going to meet me at the Cardinals game and we are going to catch up face to face for the first time since the summer of 1991. In brownies we used to sing a song. "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."

PEACE

I am waiting right now for the last athlete I have today to come in for treatment. While I've been waiting I have been thinking about something that has been frustrating me. Do any of you have any of those friends who require a great deal of emotional energy. They are fun to be around sometimes, when they are in a good mood. But most of the time they just suck you dry? Well there are a few people here in Murray that are like that. They are the people that think that their drama, or trauma, or whatever is the WORST. That what is going on in their lives should consume yours as well. It's been very frustrating. I'm not saying that I am perfect, or that I am necessarily the easiest person to be friends with. But seriously. Last night we had a suprise birthday party for my friend Jaime. One thing I really appreciate about Jaime is that she is very easy going. It's fun to do nice things for Jaime because she truely appreciates what you've done. She isn't one of those people who has an idea of what she wants people to do for her birthday and then pouts when people try to do something nice but it wasn't exactly her vision. Her attitude frees people to plan and do nice things for her. Anyway, Jaime's husband took the whole day off from work to make her day really special, but as they were returning to Murray for the suprise party our Bible study had planned, their van broke down and had to be towed back. Jaime's response, "the van breaking down was fun actually." Being Jaime's friend is easy. My other friend, in the same Bible study is not so easy to love. She is the kind of person that I have started to describe as "living on the edge." What I mean by that is that you just NEVER know when they are going to LOSE IT. It's like they flip out over who knows what and make everything miserable for everyone else. There are times when things happen, and you know she is going to lose it, and it's just really frustrating. That whole idea of being flexible, rolling with the punches, just isn't easy for her. So last night during Jaime's birthday celebration, she asked me a very direct question. I knew that my answer would not be what she wanted to hear, and that she would throw a little temper tantrum, so I lied. Half of me was thinking, I can't tell the truth she will flip out and throw a temper tantrum, and make this birthday party uncomfortable for everyone. The other half of me was thinking, I can't believe I am lying. Ephesians 4:2-3 says "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." I wonder how far Paul meant for us to take that. And I wonder what to do now. Do I set a time to meet with my friend and tell her the truth? or do I just let her think that I told her the truth and let it be? And now that athlete is hear, and I will go take care of her...