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...

grocery store dilemas

So I have been using this dish soap that my old roommate purchased a while back. It was the cheepest one at the store. The thing is that it's terrible. I knew it was terrible. Then the other day there was almost none left and so when I went grocery shopping I put it on the list. So as I was standing there infront of the 37 million different types of dish soap you can get at Walmart. I decided to go for a more expensive brand. So I tried it out yesterday and all I have to say is the extra money was well worth it. You can use way less and get much cleaner dishes.
When my mom and dad moved back to the states my mom especially was constantly overwhelmed by the number of choices at the grocery store. She was constantly going grocery shopping and buying nothing cause she didn't know what brand to get. My brother and I would say "look mom, it's spaghetti noodles, just by the cheepest." Well apparently when it comes to dish soap, buy the most expensive

Fellow RT Beach Bums

My Mom has been at my house staying with me the last ten days. It actually went really well. I think one thing that helped a LOT was that we took specific time to not be around each other. Like Wednesday night I had Bible study which she didn't come to and then yesterday night I went to my friends house to play this crazy game called Settlers of Catan. I thought that I would hate this game but it was actually a lot of fun. One of the highlights on my mom's visit was that we went to Maceo, Kentucky which is near Owensboro Kentucky to visit some of my parents friends from Saudi. I really enjoyed spending time with them. It was a lot of fun to catch up with them and talk about old times in the desert. It's nice to be around people who lived there every once in a while because they understand me in ways that few others do. I don't have to spend the entire time explaining to them why we lived there or what it was like there before finishing the story or making the point that I was trying to make. On the way back we took a short detour to visit Hancocks of Paducah which is pretty much the most amazing fabric store EVER. Yup I bought a bunch of fabric and my mom bought even more of course. Maybe me picking out some of the fabrics for the hoop nativities she is suppose to be making me will inspire her to actually get it done this year. She left this afternoon after church and lunch with my Bible study to drive to Fort Wayne. She has turned into a crazy geneiology person. She will spend a day there looking for information before she heads the rest of the way back to Michigan.

Almost over

I have to tell you that surfing is a lot harder than people make it look. I now know that for a fact. Today I spent the afternoon with my cousin Matt. First we went sea kayaking. We say sea lions and purposely got tipped over by the waves several times and it was a lot of fun. Then we went to the beach and he helped me at my first attempt at surfing. I was able to actually catch a wave, TWICE, however neither time was I able to actually stand up. This vacation has been so much fun. Friday night, while technically I was still at the convention, I went to Disneyland with my friends Chris and Benji. Chris was actually my instructor when I was in undergrad but now is more of a colleague and friend and he turned into a complete child a Disneyland and that was fun to witness. I have to say that I don't really like rollercoasters and they leave my brain feeling funny for about another day. Then Saturday after I went to my last seminar about athletic shoes and socks. (YES YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY) my cousin Matt and his wife TK picked my up. We took a tour of LA, went to Rodeo drive, saw the Hollywood sign and went to the Getty Museum. The gardens are pretty much AWESOME. Tommorrow I will layout at the beach all day while Matt and TK are at work and then Tuesday I will hang out with Matt before heading to the airport and flying home to Nashville. My mom is picking me up in Nashville so that will be great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKN6NU0Yx0

oops try this

Video of Zach

So it has been an entire week since I was last a work. I has been very relaxing, very peaceful, very fun. I have not answered my work cell phone. I have eaten lunch in the North End and gotten Canoli's from Mike's. I have ridden the T on a Red Sox game day and enjoyed the fanaticism that this city has for their SOX!!! I have purchased new Red Sox attire because I really have been longing to wear a Red Sox t-shirt in Kentucky. I have climbed 2 mountains that are each over 4,000 feet high with my roommate from college! We also hiked 20 miles on the same trip. Yes it was girls gone wild in the wilderness, with exhibitions of pure woman power and lots and lots of gorp. I have eaten lobster with my aunt and uncle to celebrate my aunt's retirement. I have played with my nephew who is 1 and taken him swimming. I also got to watch him deposit all of the contents of my aunt's tupperware onto the kitchen floor. I visited with my great aunt last night, her husband died on Saturday, his burial is today. This morning I sat in the sun on the deck reading while no one was here at my aunt's house but me. It was peaceful. I have showered twice in my aunt's rain shower! Tonight my grandmother is coming over for dinner so I can spend more time with her and tommorrow I will be riding into the city to meet my second cousin for lunch before flying back to Nashville.

Vroom Vroom

Yesterday was a very interesting day. I was at my desk at work, working on stuff when my personal pink cell phone range. It was a number from Massachusetts that I did not recognize. I answered it and discovered that my mom's 3 cousins, Fred, Will, and John, were on their annual motorcycle trip. They were only a couple miles from my house and they were wondering if they could stop in for dinner. You have to understand that Fred, Will, and John are the sons of my mom's favorite aunt, and that I know her very well, but by the time I was a child Fred, Will and John were all living lives of their own. So I got off work at 3:30 and rushed over to meet them at the court square. We had a delightful time, they inspected my house, said my roof looks good, gave me recommendations for fixing the sagging cceiling in the kitchen, looked in the basement, and the eaves upstairs. (One is an architect and one is a construction engineer) We toured Murray State, I showed them the basketball arena and other important landmarks, like the soccer field and the football practice field. We then took our reunion to Jasmine's, the best Thai restaurant in Murray, or rather the only. It is very good even if it is the only one. We had a nice conversation about their aging parents and my aging grandparents. We talked about 401Ks, we talked about Will's four kids, Kanya, Thomas, Brian and Kelly. We then headed for ice cream at Dairy Queen, they didn't believe me that it was the best Dairy Queen in America until they saw the establishment. They were delighted that it was an old school dairy queen and we took a photo. They then headed on their bikes back towards Clarksville, TN. I am so glad they stopped. SO glad they took the time to call and stop in. Yes my house was not spotless, yes I was not wearing my best work attire, yes I wasn't really prepared. But I have learned that in the end, those things don't matter as much. There will always be more dirty dishes. ALWAYS. But how often do your mom's cousins show up from Boston on their motorcycles?

"yeah that happens to me at work.. I think the way I deal with it is that I know things will get better.. i mean it can't ALWAYS be sucky ALL the time. Like I know God has better things for me. Like God shows me a lollipop but wants me to reach for his snickers bar thats not too far away... "
This evening I was talking to my dear friend Brian, aka Big RED. He is a dear friend from college. When he was a kid he had cancer TWICE. He lost half his lungs and one of his kidneys in the ordeal. Then when we were sophmores in college he had his heart transplant. I think it would be understandable if he was a cynic. BUT he's not. He became a Christian when we were in college and has such a child like faith. It's so refreshing. He loves life, he loves people, and he gives people the absolute best hugs. I once saw him tell a complete stranger that God had given him a new heart. The guy was like "yeah yeah everyone says that." Then Red said "No you don't understand, He physically gave me a new heart!" He lifted up his shirt to reveal his scars. The guy's eyes were as big as grapefruits. And then Red proceeded to tell him the story of God restoring his life, spiritually, and physically. When ever I talk to Red it's like a breath of fresh air, so refreshing, so real.

NASTYNESS

So Brady has this talent, of finding DEAD BIRDS. It's really quite frustrating. It seems that everytime I take her for a walk she finds another one. Which leads me to wonder why there are so many dead birds in Murray. Is it that I just never noticed all the dead birds other places? Maybe they have just as many in New England and Michigan I just didn't have a reason to notice. Maybe there are more dead birds because there are simply more birds in general here due to the warmer climate. Regardles of the reason, it is gross to have to pry dead birds from my dog's mouth everytime we go out for a walk (at least 3 times at day.) This whole dead bird thing is probably in my list of top five things I HATE to do, along with shopping for swim suits, taking out the trash, cleaning out festering wounds, and throwing up. I know it's gross but there you go.

Saints?

Lately I have been thinking a lot about abortion. Mother Teresa once said "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." When I was younger I didn't really think about abortion all that much, no one I knew personally (that I know of) had ever gotten pregnant out of wedlock, it just wasn't something that effected me personally and so I never put much into it other than that I knew it was wrong.
But recently all that changed. My friend Kristin was unable to get pregnant and in a turn of events that I can only attribute to the hand of God, she and her husband recently were given an immense blessing in the form of a daughter, named Cate, who is now 3.5 weeks old. As I have been processing all of the events that have transpired, and as I see the immense joy that Greg and Kristin now radiate all I can say is that the birthmother did something very selfless. At the same time, my close friend Arwen has been going thru a juxtaposed situation as one of her coworkers chose to have an abortion even after Arwen begged her not to. What it comes down to in the end is to be selfish or not. Both women were not at a place where they were ready to raise a child, and both women were in a situation where they were pregnant and it was not planned, and definately not within the confines of marriage. One chose the bear some embarrassment, to carry the child, to give birth to that child, and to allow a couple who has been praying for a LONG time that God would bless them with a child, an oppertunity. The other chose to try to save face, to not have to deal with any embarassment, and to "terminate the pregnancy." Somewhere out there I'm sure there is a family who is waiting for the Lord to provide a child for them, who would have found great joy in raising that child. And now that women will for the rest of her life what could have been, she will have the shame of knowing that she killed a defensless human being.
This weekend as I held Cate version 2.0 and I looked at her long feet and large hands, I joked with Greg that she is going to be a ball player, and maybe she will be. Or maybe she will be a phenomenal piano player with her long fingers. I don't really care as long a she is not a cheerleader. And who knows what that other child could have been, now we will never know.

I hate my car

When I was a sophmore in college I got my first car. She is a red ford contour that I am still driving. Well I was still driving until Wednesday night when I was driving with my brother to Nashville to meet my parents who were picking up my college roommate. At the 80 mile marker on I 24 my beloved car stopped. Yup it completely stopped, engine turned off, I had to coast to the side of the road, put on my flashers and call my insurance company's roadside assistants. Then we had to be towed all the way back to Murray ( over an hours worth of towing) Anyway the most ironic thing is that a week before my car stopped, I took it to the shop and told them that something was wrong with it. That is was making a funny noise and just didn't feel right. They drove it for 27 miles and didn't believe me. I said drive it again something is wrong. THey said oh, the timing belt needs to be replaced. So they did that and charged me a bunch of money. Then four days later on I 24 my car stopped. Interesting isn't it. Sometimes I think they look at me and think "oh well there is a stupid girl who knows nothing about cars and won't know the difference" and honestly I probably wouldn't know the difference except that I paid them a quarter of my car's current worth and four days later is stopped working completely. So now on Monday morning inbetween practice at 6:45 am and the bus leaving for cincinnatti at 9:30 am I have to find a way to get from work to the shop and back to tell them that they messed up my car. YES

UNH WILDCAT FOR LIFE

My friend Amy is awesome in a lot of ways. She is a talented speed knitter, she has a very gentle and patient personality, she loves Jesus, and she has an awesome voice. She recently recorded her second CD. She knows some people at her church in Massachusetts that have a recording studio at in the basement of their house and so she recorded it there and then pretty much gives the CDs away. Anyway the CD is pretty much awesome, it is my new favorite CD. I think one of the ways I have grown recently in my faith is that I am not so scared or worried about what people will think of me at work. SO anyway I have been playing Amy's CD a lot. I think that Eric my coworker and Ashley my intern are starting to get tired of it. So this morning I put in a new CD. A year ago I would never have put a Christian CD in, I probably would have opted for my brother's version of jock rock (which I might add is a good CD) but this morning wasn't a jock rock kind of morning, so I opted for Jennifer Knapp. I haven't listened to Jennifer Knapp in a while.
Anyway I recently had a tree removed in the front of my house. It looks so much better. One of my students said that my house looks much less scary and my friend said Hi five for taking out the tree." yup, who so many people would be effected by the removal of a tree, I think pretty much every one of my neighbors came over to ask who I had used to get it removed.
And of course the most exciting thing about October is that hockey season just started! UNH football is still undefeated! And basketball OFFICIALLY starts on Friday! Oh FCA is still going really well.

Worship

The sky last night was absolutely amazing at the football game. It was a lot of fun to stand on the sidelines. The air was calm after an immense storm the previous two days. Friday night there were tornado warnings all night long and rain all day and finally just before game time the rain stopped and the air felt so fresh. I was standing next to a team doctor that my Bible study has nicknamed perve (as in pervert) anyway he is always making fun of Christians, but last night he said "Cate look at the sky, do you think it's a sign?" And I said "yes." He made me take a picture of it, it reminds me of the statue of liberty's hat.
Today I took Brady on a walk and I ended up visiting with a family that goes to my church, they live about half a block down the street. We talked about a variety of subjects but one thing that really got me thinking was a comment about art and it's role in the Church and culture. The wife commented that she has alway wanted to start a Christian camp for the arts. She said "art has such a profound effect on society yet we overlook it so often in the church for bigger building projects and stuff like that." Art often connects with peoples hearts in ways that building projects or hot coffee at the door never will. That's why we call music worship. There are a lot of different kinds of worship, but the one that connects to a vast majority is thru music. My friend Kerstin is an artist. Her church sent her down to New Orleans last spring to document thru photographs what was going on down there because they felt that photos taken by an artist would convey much more than the testimonies of those from their church who were down there serving. She just got a job on newbury street in Boston making wedding dresses for Vera Wang. I think if she were to say to people that she was in full time ministry and that her ministry was speaking to peoples hearts thru photography, painting, and theatre costume design, most Christians would ask her how many people she has witnessed to and how many tracts she has distributed thru her ministry. Unless she is directly employed by a church, and then only a mega church that needs a costume designer and photographer on staff, she will have to be a tent making missionary in order to worship God thru the amazing gift He has given her. Ultimately God is asking to emulate Him and His Son, and God is an artist, just look at the night sky.

Impact

Church was powerful this morning. The sermon was about Esther. I think my 2 favorite books of the Bible are Esther and Nehemiah. Anyway the guy giving the sermon shed some new light on the fact that King Xerxes was a crazy alcoholic womanizer, never really picked up on that before. I realized how much of a risk Esther was taking when she went before him to ask him to save her people. My favorite part of the whole story is when Mordecai tell Esther that she was born for such a time as this. It really struck me as I am planning fellowship of Christian athletes stuff for the fall that I too was born for such a time as this. I also realized that I get so caught up in the "risks" like what will my non christian coworkers think of me and I felt so ridiculous, Esther was risking her life. Another powerful thing about church this morning is that my friend Brando was really moved by the sermon as well. That is something that amazes me. I work with these crazy macho men and so I often forget that they are fragile and insecure sometimes, and that beyond the exterior they just want to experience love. So when I see men getting emotional about the Lord it really impacts me. So thanks Brando for being in place where you are allowing the Lord to impact you, even if that means you have to be emotional.

Beautiful Scandolous Night
Go on up to the mountain of mercy,
To the crimson perpetual tide.
Kneel down on the shore,
Be thirsty no more,
Go under and be purified.

Follow Christ to the holy mountain,
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall.
Cleanse you heart and your soul,
In the fountain that flows,
For you and for me and for all.

At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree,
On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me,
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white,
On that beautiful, scandalous night.

On that hillside you will be delivered.
At the foot of the cross, justified.
And your spirit restored by the river that pours,
From our blessed Savior’s side.

Brady

New stuff all around

Friday night I brought home my new puppy, her name is Brady, yes like Tom Brady of the beloved Patriots. She was born on April 11. Brady will be hiding out in my apartment for about 10 days at which time she will move with me to our new home that I am in the process of purchasing. VERY EXCITING. Let me just say that I am excited to have enough space where I live to have enough seating for more than three people at one time. I am so pumped to finally have Bible study over at my house. And I have been waiting for a puppy for a long time now, since I graduated from college 3 years ago. Puppies are a lot of work. Thankfully my Brady has already learned not to relieve herself inside. Yup she is a protegy already. One thing that she does do however is that she wakes up me up multiple times throughout the course of the night because she wants to go outside to relieve herself. Then at around 4:30 am she wakes up and is quite ready to play. And she is not one that likes to play quietly by herself, she wants me to play also. Anyone who knows me even remotely knows that I need 8 hours of sleep at least or I am not a happy person. They also know that when I "wake up" it usually takes another 2-3 hours before I am truely awake, and since I don't drink coffee or soda, when Brady wakes up around 4:30 ready to play, I am definately NOT ready to play. All of this has led me to the realization that I have been rather selfish lately. I have placed my own wants above the needs of others. I have also not been spending time with the Lord as I should even before Brady moved in with all her stuff and all her needs. I have been judgemental and bitter towards some people in my life, specifically some family members. It's hard to realize this type of stuff about myself and I have two choices, I can pretend like I don't know and continue on thinking that I am somehow more Godly or righteous than the next person. Or I can allow God to humble me and change me and grow more in my relationship with Him. So please pray for me that I would allow Him to renew me.