Brady

Last night I went to see Marley and Me with my friend Kim. I knew it was going to be sad and that I would probably most definately cry. I read the book about a year ago. I think I cried for the last three chapters.
What I decided last night was that I am pretty sure that Marley and my dog Brady are somehow related. For example, there is one scene in the movie and the book where Marley jumps out of the car while it is moving, um, yes Brady has done that. Then there is the scene where Marley jumps into the shower while the dog sitter is there. UM yes Brady has also done that to me. While Brady has yet to consume any electrical appliances, she has eaten a life time supply of wooden cooking implements. She has ripped apart several phone books, that is REALLY fun to clean up. She has destroyed an area of drywall in my kitchen. She has eaten I don't even know how many socks. She thinks that her rightful place is sitting in the recliner in the living room and gets annoyed when I kick her off it so I can sit there. She loves to chew on carrots and the stems of broccoli. Figured that out when she jumped up on the counter and stole them. She loves to try to take off running when I take her for walks or runs and trys to pull me around, however, when my brother tried to stand on his skateboard and get her to pull him, she just stood there looking at him like he was crazy. She is incredibly friendly and is very gentle with small children though she tries to greet all adults by jumping up and licking them in the face. She loves to eat ice, and for that reason LOVES it when I take her in to work when I have to stop by the office. Brady loves to go to the lake but she is a hysterically frantic swimmer. She loves to go hang out with her friend Sadie, and she loves going to the vet. She is just an incredibly social dog. And everyday I come home to a smiling, excited, tailwagging dog who thinks she is a lap dog and crawls up on the couch with me to snuggle.

Crazy, I KNOW

I just got back from San Diego, where my family spent an extremely relaxing Christmas. We stayed in my parent's time share, I met up with my good friend Nate and saw where he works, which is beautiful by the way. I played a round of golf at a par three course with my brother, he showed us around San Diego. We went to church at a really neat church that my brother's friend attends on Christmas eve. We ate Christmas dinner late so that Ian's roommate could join us, he had to work, and is from New Zealand so obviously he doesn't have family there. It was completely drama free, which is exactly what I needed, and what I had been praying for. Except for the plane rides that is. Despite the fact that flights were getting delayed and cancelled all over the country, I had no problems in that department. I was so exhausted from all the basketball travel lately that I got on the plane in Nashville, fell asleep before even taxiing from the gate, and woke up tucked in with a blanket. I really appreciated that flight attendant who did not wake me up for anything. Then on the connecting flight from Houston to San Diego, I ended up between an Iraqi and a Persian (Iranian). Now I don't know if you know much about the modern history between these two countries, but it isn't pretty. The Iraqi was a 21 year old college student whose parents fled the country before he was ever born. The Persian was a 65 ish yearold man who was convinced, based on the Iraqi's facial features, that he was Persian. Long story short, the Persian guy was extremely opinionated and made both myself (in the middle of the three seats) and the Iraqi kid very very uncomfortable with his racist remarks. I was thankful when the plane touched down in San Diego, and even more thankful to have some quality time with Nate who has similar frustrations and fun in his work with college students. So then after my relaxing stay in San Diego, I hoped a plane back to Houston today, it was a pretty uneventful ride. THen I hoped another flight from Houston back to Nashville. It was on an extremely small plane, and the guy behind me was somewhat inebriated and VERy LOUD. I have not heard that much foul language, maybe ever. There was this girl next to him who thought he was cute and nice I guess and they kept talking and talking VErY loudly, F this and F that and etc... This woman sitting behind him asked him to stop because her 5 yearold was hearing everything he was saying, it didn't stop. So sitting next to me was this cute couple who like me were getting more and more frustrated. When the plane finally touched down in Nashville, we all booked it as fast as we could. We commented to each other how nice it was to be away from this guy and hoped that he didn't have baggage to claim. So I end up on the bus with this couple to parking and we are discussing our AWESOME ride when I mention the plane ride to San Diego and the crazy Persian guy and that I grew up in the Middle East. Suddenly the wife's ears perk up. "I did too." she says. GET THIS, she is the same age as my brother, and we grew up in the same town in Saudi Arabia, but her family left when I was about 5 so I don't remember them. Our cars end up being at the same bus stop! and we stand there in economy parking at the Nashville airport reminiscing a little. Her husband is totally floored and excited to his wife able to talk about her childhood so freely with someone who understands. He is a physician at Vanderbilt Childrens' hospital and she works for the Vanderbilt hospital system with their computer systems!!! I gave them my card, and she is going to e-mail me, and I am SO PUMPED. All that from two airplane rides next to loud obnoxious travellers that will hopefully I never see again.

Sometimes you just need silence

For those of you who don't know, I went to a Quaker high school. It was an experience I have mixed feelings about, there was a lot of transition going on in my life and I was away at boarding school. Often people are confused about what Quakerism is, basically it was a protestant sect with some very particular ideas about silence and about consensus. Most Quaker meetings are now pretty liberal compared to most protestants today. It's a boarding school so we all lived there. At my high school we had 1 television for about 300 kids. So think kind of like 300 high schoolers living in your house with 1 television. We didn't watch very much of it, partly because there was only 1 and partly because we had so much other stuff going on. We had study hall every night, and we all played sports. Living at boarding school there was constant activity, constant noise. But I could always count on Wednesday morning meeting for worship where we would sit in silence for an hour, unless that is, that someone had something they felt the entire student body needed to hear. Complete silence. 300+ people sitting in complete silence is a pretty powerful thing. I always had that time to think, to process. It wasn't until this past week that I really realized how that silence to process is so important to me. In high school, with all the transitions, the normal ones like growing up, and the unusual ones, like moving half way around the world to a new country and a new culture, it was really helpful for me to have that silence. In my life today, there is still a lot of activity, I work with 18-22 year-olds, I have a lot of commitments at work, and several weekly activities, mostly related to church, outside of work. I am sometimes thankful that I live alone with my dog, because I get to come home to a quiet house. We have been on the road a lot in the last 3 weeks for basketball. This year, with the addition of a female sport info person, I now have a roommate on the road. I appreciate her, she is very helpful to me, she is a good friend, but I also miss the ability to go to my hotel room and have a few moments of silence. I think better with silence, I sleep better with silence, I don't feel awkward having a quiet time with the Lord when I am by myself. I do feel awkward having that time when there is someone else in the room watching television, and who doesn't share my beliefs. I also have to forgo my usual bedtime routine, which includes laying in bed reading before turning off the lights and going to bed. She goes to sleep with the TV on. I have never in my life had a television in my bedroom and I never ever plan on changing that. My family, though they can be loud, especially my dad, recognize my need for alone time, and the importance it is to me to get a good night of sleep. I get kind of, well maybe a lot cranky without it. I definitely met my limit last week. I was frustrated and when people made some interesting decisions that made more work, and disgusting work I might add, for me, I kind of definitely LOST IT. This past weekend we went on a short just over 24 hour trip. I got sick, I had a fever and horrible horrible stomach cramping. I ended up going back to the hotel to be alone while everyone else went to dinner. I really needed that time. When my roommate came back, the TV immediately went on and the noise in general increased. That is when it hit me. I think that for the most part, our society is afraid of silence, because silence allows us the time to think, about all sorts of things, especially deep stuff. If you never turn down the volume, you never have to face truths, like that we are all people who intentionally break God's heart, and that we are in desperate need for a Savior. As Christmas approaches and we get ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior, I am thankful to be home this week, and turn down, or off the volume, and remember that I truly need a Savior, and that God loves me enough to send one. And that he came to earth on Christmas day, and His name is Jesus...

The Blue Screen of Death

There have been several topics that I have wanted to blog about lately, however it's been prett busy around here so I have falen behind. About 2 weeks ago my computer crashed and I got the blue screen of death, more than once. I, not being so great at fixing nonfunctioning computers, took it to a place in Murray that does fix them. When I took my precious laptop in, the asked for my contact info. I told them to please call me during bussiness hours at my office at Murray State. The guy said "oh your a Murray State student?" I said "No, I am employed by the athletic department." I might add that this wasn't a day that I was wearing sweats and sneakers, I was actually dressed professionally in khakis and a polo and shoes that don't have a nike swoosh. I left and spent several days computerless while they fixed my computer. Several times I talked to them on the phone and they told me that they would give me the Murray State discount. At no time did the specify that the Murray State discount is for student, and I had clearly communicated that I am not a student, so I just assumed it was a discount for faculty and staff. So finally my computer was fixed. They were able to save all my documents, pictures, etc... I went to pick it up, they charged my debit card. AND then they showed me the bill and said "and this is the Murray State student discount." I AM NOT A STUDENT PEOPLE. I didn't say anything. I was so frustrated, I am constantly mistaken for a student. I know sometimes it's because I go to work at 5:30 am in sweat pants and t-shirts. But seriously, sometimes, when I dressed for games, in suits and high heels, people still think I am a student, or at least a graduate assistant.

Lately I have been thinking about those versus in Matthew 25 where Jesus talks about the final judgement. If you need a refresher, here it is

31 “But when the Son of Man[d] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations[e] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,[f] you were doing it to me!’

41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.[g] 42 For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

45 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’

46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Recently there was a situation in my life where I had to call and report a little boy and his parents to the Department of Social Services. I wonder if I did enough in this little boy's life.

Then last week on campus there was this group of people who had this HUGE display of babies who had been aborted out in the middle of campus so that you couldn't walk by with out looking.

So it makes me wonder, how do I live out that teaching? I don't think it's enough to just give away money to causes I care about, but how do I make time in my busy schedule to get my hands dirty? How does it effect the way I vote a week from today? How do I apply it as a single woman who lives alone? Like do I even worry about personal safety? I mean honestly I don't often have random strangers knocking on my door asking for a place to sleep, but what if someone did?

Cate and Arwen 2008

So every year, starting last year, my roommate from college and dear friend Arwen and I take a hike. Last year went swimmingly well with a 30 mile hike over 2 4000 ft mountains in the white mountains of New Hampshire over a 3 day period. So this year we were optimistic about a hike through the Land Between the Lake here in KY. It started with Arwen's flight, which was suppose to get in at 6pm Thursday night, getting delayed multiple times, rerouted multiple times, and finally arriving at 11:30pm. Needless to say it was rather late when Arwen and I finally made if back to Murray and went to bed. We were suppose to hike the 60 miles of the north south trail in three days over undulating terrain, but since we didn't start until after 2 pm on Friday, we opted to only hike 30, from the South station to the Golden Pond visitors center. No big deal right. So the first day we made our tenish mile hike to the tent site/ water spring. When we got there we were starting to run low on water so we went to fill up. YEAH, so the "spring" water was nasty stagnate water which we boiled, AND filter, and drank. The next morning we set out to hike about 15 miles to another tent site/ "spring" water. We were planning on filling up about half way. This is where it starts to get rather interesting. First, due to storm damage from IKE, part of the trail was closed and we had a detour. The place where we had planned on filling up, we had to bypass and we had to walk down the Trace highway till we were finally able to get back on the trail. So we look at our handy dandy LBL map and think, "well we can make it to the next water place." So off we hike. Occasionally we stop so Arwen can lubricated her blisters, with, Chap Stick. Yes, Arwen forgot the first aid kit so she improvised. We finally get to the place to turn off the trail to get water, and decide that we are going to camp there, it's only 6 miles the next morning. The sign said .8 miles to the camp site, and supposed water. At this point I think between the two of us we maybe have 2 Tablespoons of water left. After I'd say 1.5 miles we decide that the supposed camp site /"Spring water" site is not here. Arwen is now walking down hill backwards, her feet REALLY hurt and she is REALLY thirsty. So I ask Arwen "Arwen, are you having fun?" So she says "At this particular moment, NO." So we make a plan, we are going to hike back to the N/S trail and up to the next "Pic Nic/ Water" area. I would to remind you all that we did not make up these "Spring water" places, they are clearly marked on the map and my Murrayan friends told about also. So we get to the next lovely green sign and low and behold we realize, someone thinks they are funny and has rearrange some of them. We see a little map in the wooden box thing and we "sprint" ahead to read it. It looks like about 1/2 miles down a gravel road will get us back to the Trace. We decide we are DONE with this whole LBL hiking extravaganza and we hike to the road. We use my trust and ever true compass, purchased for 99 cents, last year at Walmart and we head NORTh on the Trace. Every car going North, we turn and stick out our thumbs. Yes Chris Talcott, it is true Cate and Arwen hitch hiked. Arwen at this present time has switch to the crocs and Cate is alternating between bare feet and flip flops. NO ONE STOPS. We finally make it to the pic nic area, NO SPRING WATER HERE. At this point my lips are crusty and I think I may be hallucinating. Finally some dears souls in a white car, with a messier backseat than mine pull over to get us. They have no water but they do drive us 4 miles to the law enforcement and administrative building for LBL. NO ONE is there and NEITHER IS THERE WATER. There is a vending machine, but I only have a 20 dollar bill. It's 7 pm so we leave our gear in front of the building cause we are not carrying any of it ANYMORE. We walk/ slash shuffle from the law enforcement building about 500 yards to the Golden Pond visitors center. Arwen is jogging in her socks. We know there is beverage in the trunk of my car and that my car is in that parking lot. Several people pass us with perplexed looks, it's also getting dark. We to the entrance, the gates are shut, it is past 5 pm. We get to the car and we chug, and I mean chug. I have never chugged alcoholic beverage, ever, but I'm pretty sure I could win a water chugging contest with my performance this evening. I mean were talking close to 9 ish miles with NO WATER. So now we are sitting in my car, chugging water and juice figuring out how to get home with no cell phone reception, no pay phones and the gate locked. Arwen is convinced that we can bust of the Golden Pond visitors center so I drive down and she directs me, still in socks, around several trees and out of the center. Yes my Ford Contour drove OFF the road and around several obstacles we shall say. At this point we have seen NO stunning views, pumped water in No running streams, but we are laughing at our lawlessness. So we head back to the law enforcement center to load up our gear. We pull and start packing the car when a kind gentleman, with, according to Arwen, a cute beard, what can I say, she like beards, asks us if we are okay. I'd just like to point out, that this is the first time someone has asked us that. We tell him of our trial, his face speaks of major confusion. He says "well would you like some water." NO thanks got that already, and juice, in the trunk. We drive out and towards home, cross the Kentucky lake, now there is also some water. As we are driving down 68/80 I notice that there is a car coming straight at me in the fast lane of the divided highway. I swerve to just barely miss a head on collision and I honk my horn. SO we head over to Culver;s for ice cream, and to the RSEC for a cold whirlpool because we have hiked over 20 miles today. Note to self, we will never hike again in the LBL. We will continue our annual tradition in a place where, when the map says water in 2.5 miles, there will be water in 2.5 miles. And I know this sounds like an amazingly fun trip and you are sad you missed it this year, but no, no guests will be allowed on the Cate and Arwen annual adventure. We finally made it home, Arwen had not fallen once, and she stubbed her toe going up my stairs, so now she is bleeding.

I'm ready for Fall

Last Sunday morning hurricane Ike rolled through Murray with a lot of wind. Many trees fell, and many power lines were severed for various reasons, and Calloway County is still cleaning up the debris. Had I owned a tree removal business, I probably would have made a great deal of money this week, but I don't. Sunday afternoon was a rather peaceful afternoon spent with friends. Most of Murray was without power. I enjoyed the quietness, I hadn't really realized how much background noise there is in my everyday life. We played scrabble. I can't even remember the last time I played scrabble but I'm pretty sure it was a long time ago. We also had a bonfire that night, just sat around roasting marsh mellows and what not. We had another bonfire last night. I haven't had the opportunity to just sit around and talk, about nothing, about God, about what is important to me and to you and to whoever else.
I think so much of my life is really pretty fast paced, I have a list of things I need to get done, and do those things, and get interrupted with more important things and then I go home and I sleep. I don't really get a chance to process it all with other people, with no agenda.
So this week I have been thankful for the opportunity to do that a little, and also I am thankful because it's starting to become fall, and I love fall. I am excited for crisp air and being outside. I am really excited for fall break when Arwen will be down in Murray, KY and we will be out in the wilderness with nothing electronic, pumping our water and falling asleep under the stars after a long day of hiking, in the cool October breeze.

Don't you wish you had my life?

Note: Please read as much sarcasm as you want into this post...

I had an AWESOME it sucks to be single weekend. Now when I say AWESOME, I mean REALLY AWESOME. It started Friday afternoon. I left work at a decent hour, maybe 6:30 ish, I didn't feel like going home and cooking something because we all know that cooking for oneself all the time is SUPER FUN, and since I generally eat most of my meals at home, I decided to stop by Matt B's, a local pizza establishment that sells pizza by the slice, to purchase a slice, to eat at home of course. Because while I am getting up there in the "she's still single?" age, I'm not to the "wow, check out that girl in the corner booth eating by herself" category just yet. SO I took my pizza home, and ate by myself. I thought to myself, hmmm it would be fun to hang out with people tonight, but when I ran through a list of my friends in Murray that are fun to hang out with, most of them have small children who generally go to bed early, have date night with their husband on Friday night, etc... in fact my only single friends are some guys I work with, and we don't really hang out outside of work, and they were all in Indiana with the football team. So I decided instead of sulking at home, to make a night of it, so I headed out to do some much needed grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart I had the immense pleasure of running into SEVERAL student-athletes and their significant others, always fun, to try to get away from work for a couple of hours, or maybe 30 minutes, and run into people from work. So after spending $32 on food for the week, it's true, very cheep to feed one person, I headed home where I realized that my washer was officially broken. I stayed up watching the Wedding Singer, always a good movie to watch when you feel down about being single and then I headed off to bed. Of course I woke up at about 7:30 am because well, I go to work at 5:30 am during the week. I took Brady for a walk, she pooped in the yard of an abandoned house, I didn't feel compelled to clean it up, nobody lives there and the grass is like knee high. Some lady across the street came out of her house and yelled at me for it. Thanks just what I needed. It was really nice weather out and I thought, gee it would be a nice day to spend hiking or out at the lake, but alas, those activities are pretty boring by yourself. SO THEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY. After cleaning the house some, I headed out to Lowe’s to buy a new washer, oh the joys of being a homeowner. As I perused the selection of affordable, and by affordable I mean costing less than $1000 dollars, ouch, the very good looking, super nice, no wedding band, salesman named John came up to ask me if I needed help. Now I will say, I have done some research on washing machines, because I knew this day was coming, but what guy wouldn't think that a single girl looking at washing machines would need help. I might also add that I was looking SUPER HOT, in my royalish blue mesh Nike shorts, sports bra, old and ragged looking Murray golf shirt, with my disheveled hair, my backpack, etc... you get the picture. I also, in my despair the evening before, forgot to take my allergy meds, so pretty much I eyes were puffy, I couldn't really hear out of my ears, AND my voice was, well, deep. So John and I discussed the pros and cons of various washing machines, he asked me if I played golf, I told him that indeed I do, but that I am not very good. Several times he mentioned his love for golf. I told him that I wanted to peruse some more but that in a couple of minutes I would make a decision because I needed to purchase one due to the excess of dirty laundry at my house and my desire to NOT go to the Laundromat. He verbalized his distaste for Laundromats also and told me to find him when I was ready to make a decision. Here's my thing about Laundromats, first of all they are gross, second of all, all sorts of sketchy people go there, and being single, living by myself, who will call the police if I don't come home? So as I'm wandering through the five isles or so of washers and dryers, I think to myself, 1. why aren't there any good looking, nice, single men, that go to my church, or that are Christian that I know, I mean what the heck, and 2. I have a "no dating guys named John" rule imposed by my dear friend Arwen. Arwen imposed this rule on me because the last two guys named John, were very unclear about their intentions, and pretty much it sucked. I mean what guy spends tons of time on the phone with you, always pays for your meals when the two of you go out, takes you to his "favorite place to watch the sunset", etc... and then sends you a facebook messages stating that he is not interested and maybe we have different ideas about what our relationship is? Seriously? SO no guys named John. SO I can't locate John the salesman, so I push that silly button that announces "assistance need at the appliance desk, assistance..." and John comes back from where ever he was. I purchase my awesome new washer that is energy efficient. This year instead of spending approximately $19 to run my washer, I will spend $11. John continues to tell me how much HE LOVES TO PLAY GOLF. I finish the details of having it delivered, give him my number to put in the computer in case the delivery guys get lost, and as I start to walk away he says, "hey if you ever want to play some golf let me know." Sure, I'll get right on that, I know nothing about you, or how to get in touch with you, other than the fact that you sell appliances at Lowe’s. So I returned home, where I spent the rest of the day watching the UNH wildcats beat Army on ESPN classic live, it made me proud to be a wildcat. Then I fell asleep in my chair because I was tired. I woke up, took Brady out to the lake, she had fun though there was an old man out there who appears to be living there, kind of weird. I came home, gave Brady a bath, and cleaned my house some more, ate dinner, by myself, thought, "it would be fun to go to the movies tonight." but alas, no fun by myself. I put in Memoirs of a Geisha because that is also an awesome movie about people who have terrible love lives. Then I went to bed. I woke up this morning and went to church, where there are no single guys to date, and where I had to hear about other people's great weekends. Then I went to lunch with people from church, I must confess that I was pretty pissy. Then I called Arwen so I could rant to someone who understands how much it sucks to be single, after you graduate from college, and graduate school, and have a real job. She suggested that I needed to look for a group of career aged, single, Christian people to get to know, like maybe another church has a group that meets for Bible study weekly or something. So this afternoon the washer was delivered, thankfully, I am doing laundry. I also spent time looking for said group online. I guess unlike the northeast, we don't have those types of groups, cause I searched Murray, Paducah, Paris, and Clarksville. In fact the closest one is in Nashville on Monday nights. Now that I am done ranting on my blog, my advise to you married people in the world, STOP TELLING YOUR SINGLE FRIENDS THAT YOU MISS YOUR SINGLE DAYS, because really if you think about it long enough, you don't. And don't assume that you understand how hard it is, if you were never single, and by that I mean not married, or not dating the person that you married, after you graduated from college and were in the working world for a while. UUGGHH.

Why would anyone do that?

Someone tried to scam my 92 yearold grandmother today. They called her pretending to be her grandson. Their fatal flaw was that they called her grandma which is not what her 3 grandchildren have ever called her. She asked them which grandson they were. After an ackward pause they started to tell her that they had been in an accident in Canada and that they needed her to send money. She told the individual that they knew better than to call asking for money, that if they needed money to call Auntie Brenda and ask her, then she hung up the phone. My grandmother at 92 is one sharp cookie, thankfully she didn't fall for the story. She was a little rattled and immediately she called my aunt, who called my dad, who tried to call my brothers, and then called me. So then I got ahold of both my brother, cause I am good at that. Indeed neither of them were in Canada.
More and more you hear about people who prey on the elderly in our country. Many times they are extremely succesful at it too. My other 2 grandparents aren't as capable cognitively anymore. My dad's mom also has a daughter, my aunt, who is constantly coaching her on how to deal with these types of situations. Recently I saw an article here in the Murray paper about a public service class for the ederly to help them avoid scams. It's sad on two levels. First that people who take advantage of the vulnerable like that, and secondly, that many elderly don't have families who take great effort to look out for them. My grandmother has an incredible resource in my aunt, though my grandmother still makes all her own decisions about finances, my aunt always is with her when she makes those decisions. It was easy to tell the scam artist to call Auntie Brenda, because she knows that Auntie Brenda is much more aware of people trying to take advantage, not because she is quicker mentally, but because she was an incredible savy bussiness women her entire career and knows what to look for.

The FINAL COUNTDOWN begins

There are 11.5 days left till I leave for Colombia! And there are a ton of things I have to get done. Here is a list:
1. I really need to mow my lawn
2. I need to pack, then unpack, then repack half of what I packed the first time
3. I need to call the newpaper and tell them to hold it for me
4. I need to tell the post office to hold the mail (I did pick up the form)
5. I need to either find a ride to the airport or see if I can park my car at a friend's in Nashville
6. I need to make sure I bring my passport and plane ticket
7. I need to clean out my fridge
8. I need to clean my house and especially make sure the trash is out when I actually leave
9. I need to make sure all my bills are paid, specifically my mortage, electric, and utilities
10. I need to workout the details of Brady's extended play date with my friend's dog and give them the bag of dog food
11. I need to finish the hotel reservations and turn in the contracts for the upcoming basketball season
12. I need to find someone to work the last men's basketball camp
13. I need to ask someone to watch my house and give them a key
When I was growing up we would leave for vacation and be gone for a month and a half. I don't know how my mom did it. Not only did she have all the details about our house, dog, bills, etc... to take care of, she also had 3 kids the pack for. It's always so so busy before going on a long trip. There are always a million things running through my head that I need to get done. I always end up getting on the plane and remember about 17 things that I didn't do, and then it hits me, it doesn't matter now cause I am on a plane and if it's not done now, it won't get done. It's kind of like life. We spend so much time running around worrying about things like whether or not we will get everything done at work, or whether or not we will be able to rewire the house in the next 6 months, will I have enough money saved to retire when I'm 55 or 60 or whatever? But in the end one day we will be on our way home to be with our Heavenly Lord and non of that stuff will matter. What does Jesus say in Matthews? Oh right, today's troubles are enough for today. Don't worry, I will clean both toilets before I leave so that my house isn't sitting with dirty toilets for 3 weeks mom, I promise I will remember. PS the picture at the top? My older brother and I on vacation in the mid 80s at my grandparents cottage in Maine, mom remembered our play clothes but the probably forgot to throw away the milk in the fridge, good thing she remembered to have someone thoroughly clean the house including the carpets who probably found the rotting milk and threw it away.

Taiwan... OR COLUMBIA (South America)

Last Thursday I got a call from Shannon at Athletes in Action. The long and short is that I will no longer be travelling with them to Taiwan, instead I will be travelling with them to Columbia. People keep asking me which one. Several people have asked if I mean South Carolina, one person asked me if I meant Columbia, Ohio. I didn't know there was a Columbia, Ohio. Anyway, I will be going to Columbia, in South America. So to get excited about this fun change of plans here are some fun facts:
1. Spanish is the official language (Cate does not speak spanish)
2. They use 110 volt appliances (that means I don't have to take converters)
3. They use the metric system
4. Their currency is the Columbian Peso
5. We will be there during the "less dry season" which means it won't be the wet season but it won't be extremly dry either
6. Bogota, one of the cities we will be visiting is a mountain top city (yay for mountains!)
7. Cartagena, another city we will be visiting is on the Carribean ocean
So basically we will be in two of Cate's favorite places, the beach AND the mountains!

Party Party Party

The last few weekends have included a whole lot of events. First I think was my friends' Jaclyn and Brian's 2 year old son Luke's birthday party. The party was just days after his sister Norah was born. Luke received a wide array of vehicles, trucks, boats, planes, steam rollers. After Luke's party came his dad Brian's birthday at August Moon. Then after that, three weekends ago was my friend Greg's 30 birthday party. Then the next weekend was Greg and Kristin's daughter Cate's 1st birthday. I was also Kristin's birthday the day of Cate's party. Then after that was Achazia's 2nd birthday, we had cake at cell group. This past Wednesday we had an end of the year cookout type event to celebrate the women's basketball team and the 5 former players who were graduating. Then after that, this weekend my friend Holly graduated from grad school so there was a little shindig at her house yesterday afternoon. Then after that a family from my church with an AWESOME house had a game night, AKA random party, which lasted well into the night last night. It has been pretty busy, but also exceptionally fun. I think one of the highlights was the 2 random kids, Lucky and Thomas, who invited themselves to Holly's graduation party. They were not acquittance's of anyone at the event, just two random neighborhood kids that invited themselves in for some food and fun. I remember when I first moved here I felt was bored a lot of the time. I felt disconnected so to speak. I would try to find stuff to do on the weekend. I think the amount of events on the calendar the last couple of weeks is a clear indication that I am now connected to this community. There is a woman who works at the university that I have been getting to know better of late. She lives on my street and so she has been randomly driving by as I have been walking Brady and beeping at me. At first it kind of scared me cause I didn't know who it was driving past me. But now that I know who it is, it kind of fun. A few months ago I was asked by one of the assistant athletic directors at Murray State how long I thought I would stay here. I told him that I didn't know, and that is the truth. Beyond that though, the more rooted I become in this community the more difficult it will be to leave. Also the more rooted I become in this community the more balanced my life has become, the more perspective I have been able to gain, the more blessed I feel to live in this community. A lot of people who work in college athletics bounce around a lot from one job to another. On one hand it makes it okay that they spend excessive amounts of time at work, and also it makes it easier for them to leave, because they never are attached. However I am beginning to see that that lifestyle is incredibly lonely and unhealthy. So here are some photos from the last several weeks, most of them were taken by my friend Kristin.

That's Luke at his birthday

That's Norah at her brother's party

That's Brian and Greg trying to cut ice cream cake at Brian's Party

That's some of the guys playing cornhole at Greg's birthday

That's Kristin, Tuvia, and Kristin's neice Milla helping Cate open her presents

That's Cate and Holly at Holly's graduation party
Next up in a suprise birthday party for a woman at church. That will be tuesday. After that I'm not really sure. However I am considering celebrating my half birthday right before I leave for Taiwan. I mean I was in Morehead, KY for my real birthday, and since we are all about parties in Murray, KY why not...

Grace flows down and covers me.

I can't wait for the summer!!!! It's almost here!!! I will be spending my vaction traveling to Arizon and then to Taiwan with Athletic in Action. http://www.athletesinaction.org/
I went on a tour with them to South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2002 and it was an amazing, perspective changing experience. I am excited to be serving the Lord with this organization again.
I have been thinking a lot about people in impoverished nations lately. I know that is strange thing to say, but recently two families from my church adopted children from Liberia. I have learned a lot about Liberia and the civil war that they have gone through lately. I also read a book called "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." http://www.alongwaygone.com/
Basically it's this guy's story about how the civil war in Seire Leone affected his life, how he got sucked into the military, how they got him addicted to cocaine, etc.. He was only 11-13 or so when all this was going on. Then when I finished the book I read his bio in the cover jacket of the book, and realized that he was less than a year older than me.
Then recently I met up with my friend Kerstin while I was in Baltimore for the NCAA tournament. Kerstin works for a organization called World Relief and was about to go on a trip to Haiti. I had learned about Haiti and all the economic issues that they face regularly in high school but hadn't heard much about Haiti since then. Kerstin basically is a photographer for World Relief so she documents what their organization is doing in different parts of the world. SO while Kerstin was in Haiti I saw this thing on CNN about Port Au Prince and how the people in Haiti have no food because all their food has to be imported and it's so expensive. I started watching it because I thought, wait a minute, Kerstin is there right now. They were interviewing these people about how they eat "dirt cookies" which are basically dirt and water and butter, because that is all they can afford. THey were interviewing (CNN was) some healthcare workers about how the dirt doesn't get digested and sits in these peoples stomachs and we'll just say it doesn't turn out so good.
All this is to say, I didn't choose to be born into the life of privledge I was, Ishmeal Beah didn't choose to be born in Seirre Leone. It is only by the Grace of God that I have been blessed with the life I have. There are things that I can do to help people in Liberia, and Sierre Leone, and Haiti, and I should do those things. I also need to remember, and remind others that we are not owed anything in this life. What is the old saying? There but for the Grace of God go I? It's true, so today I want to live a life of gratitude, for all that have, most importantly my salvation, and that God has saved me from a lot of hurts and pains, and seeming hopelessness that some many others have not been spared from in this life time.

Whoville

I went to the movies and glow golfing with a family from my church. We went to see Horton Hears a Who. I am not a big movie goer. It was a lot of fun because the family I was with has two newly adopted kids and it was quite a joy to see their four year-old watch the movie. There was one scene in the movie that made me laugh. There is this one scene where the mayor of Whoville comes home and he is in his bedroom hanging from the chandelier when his wife comes in. He is saying these things that make absolutely no sense. His wife comes in and is trying to understand what he is doing and what he is trying tell her. She is trying to be supportive and non judgemental, but she is really confused and thinks that her husband has gone crazy. I was sitting there and I thought, there it is, there is the explanation as to why I don't understand men. It's because they are crazy and make no sense at all. Well maybe not all of them, but most of them.

We're going dancing

So we won the OVC championship!! We won our first round game at home against Morehead on Tuesday night. On Wednesday night we headed to Nashville for practice and the awards ceremony on Thursday. Player of the Year was a member of our team. We won our semifinals game against Samford University on Friday. In the other semifinal game Eastern Illinois University beat Southeast Missouri University. SEMO was the team that beat us last year in the final. So we met EIU in the finals. We were down a couple points early in the first half, but we made a run, and led the rest of the game. It's kinda of surreal to work so hard for something and want it for so long and then for that to happen.

Now we are headed to the NCAA. It's pretty exciting. We had this crazy police escort back. Once we crossed the Calloway County line we were joined by 2 police cars with all the lights flashing. I think that by the time we pulled up in the loading dock at RSEC pretty much every cop in Murray was surrounding our bus. It was pretty awesome. Then there was a fire truck with it's lights on and crazy chanting fans when we pulled into the loading dock. It was a lot of fun. I am also excited for a pretty low key week before getting back out on the road again.

March Madness

So I hate uncertainty. I am a planner. I like to have everything ready well in advance. SO this whole March tournament time is one of mixed emotions for me. It is fun. There is a lot riding on each game, emotions are high. Each win is celebrated. Each loosing team walks off the court with tears.
One of my job responsibilities is coordinating the travel arrangements for our team. It is not my favorite thing but most of the time I have everything done well in advance. I have the hotel contracts done in July and August. The bus contracts are done in September. I have worked through everything with the caterers and those contracts are done at least a month before we travel. The week before we leave the itinerary is finished and sent to the appropriate people.
But all that isn't possible when it's win or go home. The travel arrangements for Wednesday (as in tomorrow) are tentative based on the outcome of tonight's game. If we win I will be finalizing it all late into the night tonight and early tomorrow morning. If we don't win, I will be canceling it all.
In some ways I wish that I could just hand all of this travel stuff off to someone else. However this responsibility has taught me some important lessons over the last two seasons. There are things I can control, and things I can't. I can't control it if the sandwich place messes up and forgets to bring someones sandwich with the other 22. I can't control it if the bus has issues or the driver can't go for more than 2 hours without stopping to pee. All I can control is my attitude when those situations arise. This is a message I feel like I have been hearing all my life. It is only recently that I have come to understand it.
So I hope we win tonight, and keep winning. Even though the uncertainty of the travel planning is stressful to me. Because I would rather be up all night finding restaurants and printing driving directions than up all night leaving messages to cancel our plans.

I'M BACK

So I haven't blogged in a really long time. But my brother just started a new blog about his adventures on his way from North Carolina to San Diego and I decided that I kind of miss blogging, so I am starting up again.

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...