Up until this point, a total of zero people have come by this blog today. I mean, my stats usually suck…but this is awful. Stats really do suck on Sunday!

Random thoughts on Sunday:

• We put my dog up for adoption (he was destroying the house and even the doggie obedience school people couldn’t train him). It’s weird not having him here…I can leave food on the table, and can leave my bedroom door open. Old habits are hard to break! I miss him already. He’s stubborn…but awesome.
• I’m leaving for NY on Tuesday. One of the things on My List is to see a game in Yankee Stadium before they knock it down at the end of this season. They’re playing the Red Sox, though, and while that would make actually seeing the game even more exciting…it has also made getting tickets impossible.
• I wish I was allowed to carry something heavier than 5 lbs (doctor’s orders). I can’t move my laptop on my own.
• High school wasn’t much fun, and somehow I still managed to come away with the most amazing group of friends.
• Let it go, let it go, let it go. I need God to teach me how to do that.
• yay, NEW YORK!
• One of those aforementioned high school friends has been trying to get me to like soccer. It hasn’t happened…but I did record the EURO2008 final today so I could watch it later when I was home…but during the Cubs game tonight, the Sportscenter update gave away the results. It’s not even worth watching now. (If it even was before. I’m not convinced!)
• Baskin Robbins got rid of my favorite ice cream flavor. Strawberry Cheesecake. Jerks.
• Actually, cookie dough is my favorite flavor. But strawberry cheesecake is was the best at Baskin Robbins.
• I got locked out of my house today. That wasn’t fun. I felt like my 12 year-old self, coming home on the bus to realize my house key wasn’t in my backpack. Now that I’m away at UF most of the time, my cousin moved into my room. I gave her my key, and I use a fancy keypad thing on the garage. But that broke today. And not ONE of the other 6 people who live in this house were home. Go figure.

Matt is heading up something cool…Top 5 Friday. And we all know how much I love lists. Seriously. It’s practically the only way I can make sense of this mess inside my head. This week’s list is fun, but I dunno if I can even fill it up…

Top 5 Celebrity Encounters:

Do I even have 5 of these??? Umm…I’m really racking my brain here, folks.

Ummm…

1. Matt Theissen: Nov. 3, 2003. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” Tour. Met him right beforehand. I was a girl in my early-teens and Relient K was at the height of the popularity…really a perfect storm haha. And I thought I was cool because I could say, “Hey, I loved them way before you did…” I had a picture of us, but I think it’s on my external hardrive which is Gainesville. So you’ll just have to take my word for it.

2. There is no #2.

That’s seriously the ONLY celebrity encounter I can come up with.

Oh well.

Got anything more exciting?

Things I Did Yesterday That I Haven’t Done In A Long Time:

1. DROVE! As of Monday, I have officially reached the 6 weeks post-op mark. Yay! This would be totally uneventful if not for the fact that I am now officially allowed to get behind the wheel of a car again. While I was stuck on the couch not moving, LaToya (she’s my car) got her windows tinted. So now I get to drive around, and so first I…

2. Cashed a paycheck. How nice to have an income. I mean, it is a very, very, VERY small income. Like, my check was $25 bucks. But I’m not complaining. Income is income. I cashed this check so I could go…

3. Buy some new music! Honestly, I don’t think I’ve bought new music since before Christmas. I have downloaded and listened on-line and borrowed from friends…but I don’t remember the last time I spent money on music. Which is sad, because I love buying CD’s. There’ just something nice about having the actual, physical thing in my hand and in my CD player. I bought Tenth Avenue North’s new album, which is awesome. I knew these guys were good (they play at Christmas Conference for Crusade every year, and did praise and worship for us at Fall Getaway last fall), but this album is really incredible. If you haven’t heard it yet, I think you should ASAP. Not to mention, these guys are just so nice and love Jesus an awful lot. Never hurts. Then I got…

4. Caught in torrential downpour! It only took about 10 seconds from the door of the store to LaToya for me to be soaked to the skin.  I love running around in the rain. The last time I got caught in the rain was last fall semester, walking the 15 minutes from my bus stop to the education building with a broken umbrella. (That’s what I get for buying my umbrella for $4.00 from Wal-Mart. It was so cute, though, I swear. Blue and green and flowers and stripes. So cute.) This was quite a thunderstorm yesterday, though. As much as I like rain, though, I DON’T like driving in it. Oh well. I drove to meet me my mom for dinner and I…

5. Ate some chocolate mousse. I really hope I don’t have to explain why this is a great thing. Once I got home, I…

7. Wrote a decent journal entry. For about 2 years, I wrote in my journal every single day. That hasn’t happened in a very long time. In fact, I’ve barely been journaling at all. But yesterday I finally did…sorting through different major/minor combinations and different things God’s been laying on my heart. And, meanwhile, all day long, I…

8. Didn’t take any pain medicine! Yesterday was the first day since surgery I haven’t taken ANY pain medicine at all…not even any Tylenol. I’m excited. I mean, I was sore, but no pain pills necessary. This means recovery is going well! Yay!

Chalk it up to a good day!

AND! This is definitely worth mentioning. We’re going up to NY next week for my sister’s national karate tournament, and while there I might (MIGHT…knock on wood) get to see a game in Yankee Stadium before it’s gone. But not just any game. THE NEW YORK YANKEES AND THE BOSTON RED SOX. IN YANKEE STADIUM. IN ITS LAST YEAR. This, ladies in gentlemen, is what we call a Once in a Lifetime Deal.  Fingers crossed that the cousin-with-the-fancy-lawyer-job can pull a few strings and get some tickets! Either way, I can’t wait for  New York.

Where are you off to this summer?

I spent the weekend in Tallahassee with my best friends from high school. We spent all weekend laying around Ashley’s (on the right in that picture) apartment, watching movies, playing board games, watching sports, eating food…making fun of each other. It was a very full-circle moment for me.

The last time I went to Tallahassee, I was in fourth grade. Our elementary school choir had been invited to sing the National Anthem on the steps of the Capitol Building. Ashley (or Findley, as I like to call her) and I were in the same chaperone group. This weekend, about 10 or 11 years later, I drove up to Tallahassee with some of our best friends to visit. How weird is that? Fourth grade, on a bus, chaperones. Junior year of college, Amethyst’s car, summer subleases. I sort of can’t get over it.

“I spent an awesome weekend with Amethyst, Findley, Evan and Deepak.” I hope I get plenty of more opportunities to say that as we all keep moving on to wherever it is we’re moving on to. All weekend long we joked that we’re all halfway to 40. Amethyst turned twenty in February, Findley in June…and now the rest of us have our birthdays through July and August. Twenty is a big number.

I think we’re all a little daunted by the decisions we’ll have to be making in the next year or two as we graduate–where will we live? where will be work? how will we pay for grad school? We’re all a little uncertain…we just don’t have any clue what’s in store. But I can honestly say that I’m excited to figure it all out with them through the next 20 years and beyond.
How long have you known your best friends?

I’m hoping that with a new album comes a new tour…because trust me, as good as MuteMath’s albums are, their live show is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Any MuteMath fans out there?

EDIT: Ok, so I just posted. But then I found this video and had to share it. If you weren’t a MuteMath fan before…

This post is part of both Positive Post Tuesday and TSLOK Summer Camp! Go join in on the fun!

Whenever I’m asked to give my testimony–trying to condense what is so complex into something so concise–I usually start by saying something like, “Well…I grew up in church.” The more I think about it, though, I’m not sure that means what I thought it meant.

I grew up attending church. Don’t get me wrong–this is a good thing. My parents always taught my sisters and I the importance of attending church regularly, and also that as members of the church, we should be serving there. And I was so blessed that we were attending (they still attend, I’m just in Gainesville most of the time) a church that was dynamic and growing and did a lot to serve the community. There’s powerful worship and a pastor who preaches the whole gospel, not just the feel-good parts. I was being challenged and learning. All good stuff.

But when I look at descriptions of the early church in the Bible, the thing I see most is community. It seems to be the most important, integral thing. (I mean, other than Jesus. Of course.) In Velvet Elvis (if you haven’t yet, read this!), there’s a quote about community I love:

“Community, community, community. Together, with others, wresting and searching and engaging the Bible as a group of people hungry to know God in order to follow God.”

I didn’t have any of that. No real Christian friends, no vulnerability or accountability or being challenged. And the last place I was expecting to find all of that was at the University of Florida. But God had big plans.

Just after moving into my dorm freshman year, I saw a sign advertising a Bible study that was going to be held in our common area, so I went. It was very much a “What the heck, why not?” kind of moment for me. I don’t like to do things where I won’t know people, but I went because I thought I might need some kind of substitute for church. (I was doubtful I would find one I liked in Gainesville…sidenote: if you want a good church, tell God you don’t think you’ll find one you like. He’ll deliver.) I got there, and the girl I met at freshman orientation was there (that’s Kristina…my roommate). Two girls who lived right across the hall from me where there. And I will never again believe that a single person I meet is a coincidence.

A year later, I was helping to lead that Bible study for a new group of freshman, many of whom are my best friends. This summer, we’re spread out in Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, Daytona, Gainesville and Barbados. Despite that, there’s a facebook message going back and forth (not ideal, but believe me, it works), letting each other know what we’ve been up to, sharing Scripture that’s been encouraging to us or challenging us this week, asking for prayer and making fun of each other like only good friends could.

I just can’t get over how amazingly God has blessed me. These are the girls who, after my very-rough break-up, showed up at my apartment in their pajamas and announced they were spending the night. These are the girls who climb into my car every Sunday morning as we head to church together. Together, we agree that Daniel probably looked something like Indiana Jones, and allow each other to laugh and cry until we can’t do either anymore. Without these girls, my walk with God would probably still be going somewhere in the wrong directions.

I still have a long way to go, but I look forward to walking it with them by my side.

When I was a little girl, my dad used to take me to a local country club for golf lessons. I had little, tiny golf clubs with pink rubber grips. I don’t remember if I was any good or not. But I remember going to the driving range with my dad on hot, humid Florida summer nights. We would hit buckets of balls, and I would always ask for one more bucket until my dad finally had to cut me off. I quit, though.

To get into the country club, you had to drive through a gate and tell the old man in the security box where you were headed. My dad used to say, “Future LPGA champ, right here!” and pat my knee in the passenger seat. (Obviously, before passanger-side air bags. Safety first!) And I was embarrassed. So embarrassed. Rather than say, “Hey, Daddy, don’t say that!” I started telling him I didn’t feel well or was too tired for golf lessons, and so slowly we stopped going. I sort of regret that. But oh well. What I remember now is that my dad was proud of me and had confidence in me. That has never wavered or waned, and I am so grateful for it.

I’m thinking today about what I’ve learned from my dad. There are lots of things, tons of things, things I could not even begin to scratch the surface of. I’ve learned about commitment to family and business–but always family first. I learned the importance of not just attending church but serving there, and that you don’t call in sick to work just because you don’t feel like going. I learned about a love for music and a love for books (and acquired my tendency for owning way too much of both). I learned about golf, football and baseball.

And I learned that I will never abandon the Braves and become a Mets fan just because my favorite baseball players gets traded to them. Ever.

Bad choice, Dad.

So he’s not perfect. But try not to hold being a Mets fan against him. I love him anyway.

PS: I’m including this post as part of Brody’s Stats Suck Sunday. My stats kinda suck everyday. I’m glad I get a day to celebrate it! haha. Starting tomorrow I’ll be doing Kat’s Summer Camp…so get excited!

I added a new page over there at the top.

If you click over there, you’ll find The List. It’s a list of 101 things I’d like to accomplish before I’m done at UF in 2011 and off to the real world. Like I say over there, some of the things are one-time events, but others are long-term goals or changes I’d like to make. List subject to change without notice haha.

So check it out. A few things have been accomplished, and I’ll try to include dates as I complete things. I’ll keep everyone (anyone out there?) updated as I go along.

What’s on your list?

Last night I was watching Letterman, and Zooey Deschanel was talking about a woman at the Mutter Museum whose body, after it was buried, turned into soap. Zooey (we’re on a first-name basis, she and I) ((did you catch that cute play on words there…cause her musical duo is She and Him…ha…ha…no.)) said, “How did they realize she was soap?? By trying to wash with her???”

Kind of gross.

But that’s not really what I want to post about. Despite the fact that it is totally strange and worth mentioning. I want to write about a different kind of soap.

Our Crusade campus director, Jimmy, has been doing these little videos called CRUCoreTV as a way of keeping everyone connected and informed over the summer, updating us on what God’s doing in his life while dancing around to Trick Daddy and Guns n’ Roses. I kid you not. Here’s Episode 1 and here’s Episode 2, if you’re interested. At any rate, in episode 1 he talks about journaling, and how God has been using journaling to show him some really cool stuff. And the method he’s been using while writing is SOAP, which works like this: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer.

I think I might try this because as much as I like to ignore the fact, I can get kinda lazy sometimes and in order for most things to be really effective in my life, I need to approach them in some kind of disciplined way. A clearcut method like this helps me to do that consistently. Journaling is always something really rewarding for me in general, even in non-spiritual parts of my life (which, really, I’m learning don’t exist–it’s all spiritual). How much more am I going to gain and learn from writing if I start doing it consistently as I read the Bible (which, hopefully, I’ll also be doing consistently). So I think I’ll try this SOAP method a bit and see what awesome things God is going to teach me.

Do you journal? How do you approach it?

This week I’m joining in on Brody’s Positive Post Tuesday for the first time. I’ve been wanting to do this and haven’t before, so here it goes!

I love my mom. Seriously. She is amazing. I have never met anyone so selfless. She approaches everyone she meets with a level of patience as I have yet to see anywhere else–that includes me, my sisters, my dog, my dad, the rest of our family, people at work, cashiers, waiters and waitresses…whoever. I pray I can learn to be as patient and as selfless as my mother. When I’m away at school, I miss her so much. I can always count on her for sound advice, a good laugh, and just that little bit of encouragement I need to get through my days, both in Gainesville and at home.

All her amazing-ness has only been magnified over the past two weeks while I’ve been laid up from surgery. She slept in an uncomfortable chair and ate gross hospital food the entire week I was in the hospital. Now that I’m home, she sleeps with a walky-talky so that I can wake her up everytime I need help rolling over or need another pain pill (as if she got enough sleep already!). She makes special meals and snacks to cater to my disappearing appetite, keeps careful track of how much pain medicine I’ve had and how much I have left. She’s been letting me use her pillow all week because it’s more comfortable than the one in my room. She has sat next to me and given me hugs while I whine and cry because I’m in pain (or just because I’m bored  and the pain medicine makes me an emotional wreck). She cleans up after me when I drop things because I’m not allowed to bend over. And she does it all without complaining…even with a smile on her face.

And that’s just this week.

I can only hope and pray that when I have a family of my own, I can treat my husband and children with as much love, patience and selflessness as my mom does. I love her. She’s incredible.

**Edit: Just after posting this from my permanent spot on the couch, my mom brought me a fresh glass of water which I proceeded to spill all over myself and the couch…because I am more clumsy than ever these past few days! And of course, my mom drops what she’s doing to come running with a towel, fresh t-shirt, and new pillowcase. Where would I be without her? Drowning in a puddle on the couch, that’s where.