Merry Christmas

It's been a loooonnnnnnggg time... so I thought that I would post my Christmas letter online for you to view and catch up. I really do hope that I'll post more in the New Year. Who knows.

Here's the most recent picture of Scott and I ... who has moved down to Ft. Worth and it's wonderful! We're leaving for Colorado tomorrow to go and visit our folks... it's very dreamy having him around all of the time.

goofy smile... again

Just thought I would update randomly with another picture... :) Scott has a goofy smile.

Slightly more normal I guess...

Here's me and the big dork. :) Cute huh?

To all those who want me to update

Here's your update... no wedding - yet. Right Scott? :) That's up to him I suppose.

Life / Ministry is super busy. Blogging has taken a back seat since I spend most of my evenings on the phone with a certain someone - who by the way is the one who complains the most that I don't update this thing.

We've got camp in a month for WyldLife to Arizona - very exciting.

I really don't have too many funny stories to share with you. I've been kinda consumed by other things.

Thanks for always checking back!

Frustrations with Technology

I just sat for the last 45 minutes and with the Holy Spirit stirring in my heart wrote a wonderful and deeply meaningful entry tonight about the Pursuit of God and how God is tugging at my heart and in my life right now.

You won't ever read it because Blogger just erased the entire thing. I guess they weren't words for you after all.

Here he is. He's been picking on me a lot lately - So I'm going to torture him with a posted picture. Scott, you are lucky I didn't send others. :)

There's a New Man in My Life

As most single women my age have to suffer through, my mom wanted to introduce me to this guy she met from church. He was the son of friend at church. My mom emails me about him, then she gives him my website, a funny story plays out, Scott and I hit it off. (See post dated February 8, 2005.) You might think that the story would not go much farther, that it might not get even more interesting. Oh, but I have a feeling it's just the beginning.

Girl talks to boy over email, then he calls. He was lucky - she answered. Boy stumbles over his words. Boy makes girl laugh. Boy calls again. Boy still can't think of words. Boy wants to meet girl. Girl refuses to go to Colorado - forces boy to come to Dallas. He realizes she's worth it - He drives to Texas.

And so I had a "guest" last weekend. This guy my mom loves (whom I think secretly is plotting to marry us so that I will move back to Colorado), came down to visit me over Easter weekend. We talked pretty regularly over the phone since the day he first called. I wasn't really expecting anything to come out of this random email my mom sent me that fine Monday. But I just had a wonderful weekend with a guy I met for the first time on Friday. It was a fantasaical weekend, if that is even a word (not like fantastic, but like fantasy). True Love at first sight? I guess you'll never know Mom! :)

But the even funnier thing about the whole situation is that Scott and I's moms are friends - and they are talking to each other! Who knows exactly what they are talking about, but being in Dallas, I have no say in the matter and can't do much about it. And Scott is just loving it!

Blessings come in strange packages I guess. I'm overwhelmed at the one I've received. It's like you get one box opened and there is another whole surprise to open inside.

This relationship could turn out to be really great - and I will thank my mom and give her credit if that is the case. But if not, you can't blame me Mom!

So About Club last Friday

Well, we had 40 kids there, which was a lot of fun. Considering there are only two of us doing any kind of contact work, that's pretty good. I would seriously in a ditch somewhere if it weren't for my leader Brian. He's been so great for our ministry here in West Plano. Pray that God blesses him for it.

Nine out of those 40 kids were new - which was amazing! Who knows really where they came from. But we had a great time with them. My talk went pretty well. I started out talking about Laura and our friendship. Then I described how she died and the things I tried to do to stop it. I related that to how there was nothing I could do to save my friend, much like there is nothing we can do to get rid of sin - how it's a disease that has made a barrier between us and God. Then I spoke briefly about it was only by what Christ has done for us that we can even step foot in His presence.

The cool thing about it was that I knew a couple of kids would hit home with this message. Two of my "regulars" have lost a parent in the last couple of years. But one I didn't know about - great kid - comes up to me afterwards and says, "Kimi, I know how you feel." (Staring down at his feet. So I put my hand on his shoulder and knocked foreheads with him and asked what happened.) He told me his uncle died a couple of years ago and he just wanted to tell me that he knew how I felt that day. How cool was that? 8th grade kid, wants to comfort me.

I love my job.

Another thing about Laura

She would have had a blog and it would have been much cooler and funnier than mine.

6 Years Ago

Six years ago I lost a dear friend of mine, Laura Dowell, from a car accident. She was a freak, I think that's why we were such good friends. She was a cheerleader, an artist, loved Young Life, loved our church. God had done some amazing things in her and taught her quite a bit while we were friends. If I had a problem, I went to her. If I needed guy advice, I went to her. If I need a slap in the face, I went to her - I knew she would love me anyway. But we were crazy friends, everyone thought we were freaks. And we were. She was protective of me and I of her. We did everything together - Student Council, Young Life, Campaigners, St. John Youth Ministry, Mission trips in the summer. More than a friend, she was a true sister of mine. Both of us were being stretched so much in high school. We saw God at work in each other's lives. Encouraged one another with Scripture and Truth. I still have several of her notes to me with random verses that she would give me the hall. Somehow she always knew what was wrong and what to say. More than all of that even, we used to be able to confess everything to each other. Everything. Nothing was untouchable. She saw me at my very worst, and I saw hers - and we loved each other all the more. I haven't really had that since.

Last Friday was the six year anniversary of her death. For some reason this year was a bit more difficult for me. I was talking to a good friend about her a couple of weeks ago and I lost it. Simply lost it. I didn't realize just how much I missed my friend. Other years, the 18th has come and gone without me really noticing. But this year, I had WyldLife Club Friday night. It just so happened that the topic of discussion for club that night had to deal with sin. (Young Life has a message progression they go through to talk about the Gospel throughout the year.) And part of that topic we have to deal with the issue of why there is all this crap in the world - why do people die? Why do children starve? Why are we in such need for salvation? What are we being saved from?

For the last couple of weeks, I was terrified to do this talk. I procrastinated writing it, thinking about it, everything. I didn't want to remember the pain I felt when Laura died. Last week I finally just had to do it. Every emotion, feeling, sound, memory I still have of that week came back. I can still hear the initial sirens after someone told me she was in a car accident. I remember the pain in my body as I ran as fast as I could out to the main entrance of the school. I remember my chest heaving in and out as I gasped for air. I remember not even recognizing Laura's car that was just a heap of metal. I remember hearing her screaming as they had her on the stretcher - or was that me? I really don't know. I remember seeing Erin and Ben walking up to me, crying. I remember the administrators forcing us to go back to the school, sitting in the nurse's office. I remember my brother being there.

The next couple of days were a blur - news from the hospital sent me mixed messages, but everyone thought she would be okay. They said she had a huge gash on the back of her head and they had to shave her hair - so a bunch planned on shaving ours before she got out of the hospital. I held a prayer vigil at our church that Tuesday night. Wednesday at school I organized a chain link that students could write her notes and I would take them to the hospital. Wednesday night we had the most students at our Young Life than we had in a while. I was strong for all our friends who were really struggling. I kept telling them that God's will is so much better than what we can imagine - if God takes her, then it was her time. Think of all the lives that have been changed because of her, even in the last 36 hours.

I went to bed Wednesday night, hoping to be able to visit her Thursday sometime. I can still see 5:12 on my alarm clock when my mom came into my room Thursday morning. I can even still hear her words, "Kimi, Laura passed away this morning." I could hear the pain in her voice that her daughter just lost her best friend. That day we had a "memory" service where a ton of kids showed up at our church and talked about all of the funny things Laura did, how she impacted their life.

There was a get together at our Young Life leader's house and I brought every picture I had of Laura and a giant piece of plastic about 4 ft by 8 ft. I filled that entire thing with pictures, memories, notes of her. We had it on display at the funeral and in the youth room later. The wake was awful - seeing someone who was full of life and at the age of 17 - lying there, completely lifeless. I still shudder when I see that funeral home. On Saturday there had to be at least 1000 people at her funeral. Pastor had asked me to read an essay Laura wrote for a college application. It had part of a song called "It's Good to Be Alive" and a story of her and I in Juarez - it's below if you want to read it. It was difficult for me to read this story, I didn't even know that it existed until my pastor gave it to me on Friday. Something even possessed me to sing the lines of the song. I couldn't sing in front of that many people now.

So many people's lives were changed by Laura. I honestly think her death is the reason my mom and step dad finally began relationships with Christ, tons of other students did as well. Laura's mom. God was certainly glorified in the whole situation. But my selfish sinful nature still hates that I lost my friend - moreover that I lost my maid of honor. I lost prom with her that year or our Spring Break trip to Mexico a couple of weeks later. I lost my best friend graduation picture. I lost "Aunt Laura" for my children. I was angry at God for a long time. My faith was challenged, but strengthened. I still don't really have a friend that I feel like I can tell absolutely everything. And I do miss my friend. But it is good to be alive - to have loved her more than myself, even if it was ever so brief.

That Magic Moment
Laura Dowell

Have you ever experienced one of those little moments where you suddenly realize how incredible life is? Every once in a while, one of those realizations just engulfs me and I have to say, these are the happiest moments of my life. That amazing feeling is sometimes only a two minute, or even two second experience during which my mind takes itself out of the world for a moment and I have to say to myself, “Wow! I am incredibly content right now. Life is awesome.”

These moments can be summed up in the lyrics of one of my favorite songs, “It’s Good to be Alive,” by a group called Geoff Moore and the Distance. I think of this song in particular because it reminds me of a vivid memory of one of those moments, during one of the most exciting and impacting experiences in my life. This song was often playing in the background.

“There’s nothing in the world like being fifteen…”
I can picture it now. July of 1997. I was a fifteen-year-old baby Christian, on her way home through the hot dry plains of New Mexico after the most unbelievable week of her life. I was crammed with thirteen other smelly, dirty people in a fifteen-passenger van after a week in a large, poverty-stricken city in Mexico called Juarez. No showers, no running water, no air conditioning. We had slept on dirt sidewalks or concrete floors while two-inch cockroaches scurried over us.
It doesn’t exactly sound like a party. But for reasons beyond my imagination and control, I got the feeling that each and every person in that van was as content and fulfilled as I was.

“Your pockets are empty, but your head is full of dreams…”
Have you ever experienced that feeling of joy when all of a sudden your head fills with so many ideas and plans and memories that you’re just bursting to write them all down so you won’t forget a single thought? In the van, I recall first glancing at my best friend Kimi sitting across from me, writing furiously in her journal just as I had been doing minutes before. As my youth director, Donnie, sped through the white sands of New Mexico at about 90 miles an hour, I had to laugh at him, wearing his silly Indiana Jones hat that accompanied the stubby goatee he had grown over the past week. “It’s Good to be Alive” was playing on the radio and I was curled up with my friend Jamie as he ran his fingers along the sides of my face just like he had done every night in Mexico to make me fall asleep. I remember that feeling I had as I stared out the window at the shockingly blue, cloudless sky, daydreaming and reflecting on the trip; remembering the people I had met, the lives we had touched, the God we had served, and the mission we had completed. For those few minutes, nothing was out of place. I was hot and sticky and dirty- and I loved it.

“…of boys to be loved, of places to see…”
Mexico. Wow. What an incredibly fascinating country. At first glance of Juarez, a huge impoverished city about twenty minutes from the United States border in El Paso, I thought, “Wow. I sure would hate to live here.” The run-down houses and shops along the winding dirt roads added an overwhelming fear to the culture shock we were already feeling. But, as we pulled onto the street of the church we were staying at, I took a good look at the children playing soccer in the road and the mothers busy doing laundry in the yards. After our first night, I knew that the people in Juarez possessed a satisfaction and happiness that the people in West County would never feel. They were all so cheerful and giving. We got to know their lives even better as the 40 of us split into two teams: a vacation Bible school team and a construction team.

“It’s the best, and the worst, just my friends and me…”
My two best friends on the trip, Kimi and Kristen, and I were a bit overwhelmed with the task of being in charge of about one-hundred little Mexican children for hours each evening. Meanwhile, during the day, the construction team workers, with the help of an organization called Casas por Cristo, were overwhelmed with the task of building 2 houses in the blazing heat for two penniless families. Even with our friends to encourage us, it was intensely challenging to look past the dehydration, blazing heat, constant odor, and lack of sleep. But even so, I don’t think I’ve cried so many tears of joy in my life. And despite the constant flow of small problems like arguments, electrical fires on the roof, and trying to set an example by tolerating people with kindness after a long day of work, we pulled through, pulled together, and did our job.
Have you ever experienced the feeling of two completely separate cultures holding each other’s hands and singing the same song in their own, different languages, but to the same music? “Tu nombre lavantare…” “Lord, I lift your name on high…”

“...And we’re anything we want to be!!”
On our last day in Juarez, the pastor of the church and his wife threw a fiesta for us. It was more like a tremendous worship service with everyone in the town and everyone in our group. Each person, even including the guys who you would think were “too cool” for this type of thing were dancing and praising God with hearts and hands raised high. There wasn’t a heart in that room that wasn’t on fire for our almighty God. Have you ever experienced the joy of feeling the spirit of the God of the universe move through you like a shudder?

“I feel the wind in my face, I see the blue in the sky… It’s days like this I realize what a gift is…”

On the van ride home, I pondered what it would be like to come home after such a week; To a world so ignorant and in need of God, a world so hungry and lost. I thought I had been traveling to such a world when I went to Mexico, but I came back realizing that it was my own life that was touched by the service we did to those people. The thought of coming back to West County and the money, the cars, the cliques, and the technology, should have been enough to worry me as we headed home. But the wind, blowing through the windows as I stared at a sky bluer than my father’s eyes, created in me the feeling of a moment I’ll never forget.
That week, I climbed to the top of a mountain. It was a physical struggle, but I made it to the top, accomplished what God had sent me to do. When I got there, I saw that there were so many other mountains out there that God had set there for me to climb- so many more mountaintops to reach for. I want to climb each and every one of them.

“It’s good to be alive!!"

Girls and Their Men

I have a friend (really it's a friend - not me) who is madly in love with a friend of mine and has been for a while now. This guy is good friends with this girl but part of me highly doubts that he really knows just how she feels about him. If I were him, I would try to completely remove myself from the situation. But I think this girl will actually wait to see if anything will ever happen between them. And she's beautiful, she's fun. But she's not the girl for this guy. Sometimes you wish there is some way to slap that into a girl (I have been that girl before), but sometimes when we get set on one guy, we just don't let that go. You never know it until you are in it, but it's awful.

I forgot to mention

That same family I babysat and who have Harley & Hailey, well they called me up Friday before Spring Break and said - Hey, Kimi, do you want to go to Cancun with us tomorrow? Yeah - no joke. I thought they were playing me but they weren't. Unfortunately my lack of vacation days and Danny's wedding prevented me from going. I've heard of God just blessing people with things like that, but never actually thought it would happen to me.

You Gotta Laugh

This week for Spring Break has been pretty low key. Most of the kids I know are gone. The Apples are gone (which has been enlightening for me on how much I love having them around). So, I'm just watching Annie the Apple's dog who has been the biggest pain in the butt all week and today I had to pick up two other dogs from the kennel (life as a single female). :)~

Their names are Harley and Hailey. They belong to the family I watched two weekends ago. They are still puppies (about 6 to 8 months). So I go into the vet's office and I don't have any information, no kennel to put them in my car, nothing. While their house was only 3 miles from the vet's office - this was the funniest car ride I've had in a while. I don't even have a leash for the little one, who is pretty fast I might add. Because my backseat was filled with junk from club, they rode in the front passenger seat. Immediately they start moving all around, climbing all over each other, trying to stick their heads out of my sunroof (impossible, but not in their tiny minds). Hailey is chewing on the seat buckle, then my emergency brake, then a full water bottle. They are both panting (as English Bull Dogs and Chinese Pugs do so well). But to top it all off, as I pull up to their house, I see a glob of slobber beginning to ooze from Harley's chops.

There was nothing I could do to stop it. My car has been violated by this beast. All I could do was laugh.



Hailey & Harley

My Weekend as a Single Soccer Mom

I never got a chance to write about my weekend as a single mom two weeks ago. From Wednesday evening until Sunday evening, I was responsible for 5 kids - 1st grade, 3rd grade, 5th grade, 6th grade and 8th grade. Three boys and two girls. It was 6:15 mornings and 11:00 - 12:00 nights. I'm used to the late nights - but certainly 6:15 mornings. God certainly taught me a lot that weekend - first, just how much moms really do and second, that I could never have a full-time job and try to even do laundry for all of those kids!

We had a blast though. Well, I did. I'm not sure if the kids liked me or not. I was mainly a chauffeur - driving from golf lessons to soccer practice to basketball practice. You really have to plan who eats when and what, how far ahead you need to get them up in the morning. It was crazy.

I have a new appreciation for single moms as well. My mom has worked full-time since Kevin and I were one year old. I simply could not imagine doing this on my own. Even just to have a normal sane person to talk to at the end of the day was therapy for me. I know that my mom has sacrificed much so that my family could have so much more. I am very grateful for her bravery and strength to be able to endure such a hardship.

Saturday night, I had the four younger ones and we went to Panda Express for dinner. It was great because every single one of us craved Chinese food that night and wanted to watch the Back to the Future trilogy (a must for all human beings to experience). As we were sitting around the tiny table that at PE, after all of the frustrations of that day and tempers that were rising, there were a few simple, enjoyable moments of conversation and laughter between the five of us. My heart jumped with excitement to be able to one day sit with my own kids and have such a time. How great it will be.

After an exhausting weekend, I woke up late Monday morning with a cold. But getting a cold was certainly worth my time at Panda Express.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Would you be mine?

It is one gorgeous day here in Texas - and while I may still wish that I was able to go hiking with my family in Colorado Springs, maybe at a place like Helen Hunt Falls, I was content to sit by the pool with Annie the dog. Five hours in the sun does wonders for the skin, but even more for the soul. Much like my recent cruise, sitting and reading a book took most of my time today. It was great to journal - to get outside in "creation." I use that lightly because I live in Dallas, a place made of more concrete than I care to imagine. But I did have the white noise of streaming waters, even if they were from the pool. The breeze was certainly swaying, the birds were chirping, and golf carts were whizzing by. The sound of sirens blaring in the background, as puffy white clouds drifted by.

But the sun was warm on my face and the breeze cool to my skin - so I enjoyed it. Sure, it may not be the peacefulness of a rushing waterfall in Colorado. Nor do I see the majesty of Pike's Peak from my backyard. But I did enjoy a 75 degree afternoon of lounging and reading in my new bathing suit. Annie kept me company (even though she's been driving me nuts all week) and guarded me from any golfer who tried to get to close.

I sat and read a psalm - 102, actually. You hear the cry in this man's words for God to reveal Himself, to speak to his heart. That was me today. Sometimes I feel as though I'm withering away as the psalmist puts it. Things in life seem empty, shallow. I realized today (again, seems that God has to teach this to me over and over) that it is in those times that I realize I've been so wrapped up in myself. I worry about my life, my ministry, my future husband, my future children, my time, my finances, my outward appearance, my loneliness. And I pray about these things constantly - but it's still all about me. It's a selfish thorn in my side that often draws all of my attention.

But I love the way this psalmist then turns his attention toward the Lord - His compassion, His renown that endures forever, His favor, His name, His glory. He also turns his attention to others and what God will do for them - He rebuilds Zion, He responds to their prayers. By the end of this man's prayer, he realizes everything in the earth and heavens will perish, but the Lord will remain. My life is so temporary and while it may have eternal significance - it is not for me to worry about.

And so it comes down to this - Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. A constant lesson.

Getting Married in Mexico

This weekend I went to Juarez Mexico for a wedding of a dear friend of mine, Danny. Danny is the son of a pastor, whose entire family I first fell in love with nine years ago during my first trip to Juarez. Below are a bunch of pictures from my trip.


Three of my friends from Chicago and St. Louis picked me up in Dallas and we drove across Texas late Friday night. We stayed at a very questionable hotel that night and then finished the trip to El Paso Saturday. While this bathroom may not have been much on the inside, I loved the sign. :)


For dinner on Saturday we went to a place called Cattleman's Steakhouse out in the middle of nowhere'sville Texas (just outside of El Paso). It was on a beautiful piece of land with a small lake and a little zoo! Here are some pictures.



Me being goofy. There actually were baby rattlers in here (Winnie the Pooh and noisey ones).



I love these things.


Probably the best thing about the zoo were the llamas. Just that afternoon we watched Napoleon Dynamite. Unfortunately we didn't have any ham to feed these two and they didn't respond to "Tina."



After dinner we drove into El Paso, spent some time at Wal-mart and then to the scenic overlook above El Paso and Juarez. This picture isn't that great, but on the mountain in the background it says, "Cd Juarez, La Biblia es la verdad. Leela." Which means, "City of Juarez, the Bible is the Truth. Read it." It's awesome to drive into the city and see that from wherever you are.


Up on the scenic overlook, we made t-shirts to welcome Grace (Graciela) whom we had to pick up from the airport later that night. It was funny but chilly! Probably the first time I've been up at the overlook and about froze my butt off.


That night we stayed at a cute older couple's house who have been married for 64 years! 64 years! Their house was like a museum with pictures of family and little nick nacks everywhere. Then, we got into their garage and there are several train sets dating back as far back as 1933. It was amazing! This man had dozens of cars, a little town built including people, mountains, trees. It was so cool. You could see the pride beaming off of the old man's face.


Donnie and Charlie - they're weirdos. Donnie's shirt says "God=Love" and Charlie's says "Hot, hot, hot." But you gotta love 'em.


Children are beautiful but Mexican children are angels. This is Natalia, she's the granddaughter of the oldest son Mundo, who recently got married. Isn't she beautiful?



This is Brenda, one of the three flower girls - she and I became buddies by the end of the night.



Donnie and Charlie actually clean up pretty well.



This picture was taken less than 45 minutes before Danny's wedding is supposed to start. He's sitting on the couch with Laura and I playing with his new cell phone - making us laugh. We just finished an awesome Mexican lunch that Pastor Saucedo made for us. I couldn't believe that the afternoon before their youngest son's wedding, they would take the time to make us a meal! And Danny would then sit and eat with us. They were so grateful.


Moreover, Danny's parents Catalina y Carlos, asked us to sit at their table at the dinner reception! I felt so honored. They are truly my family away from home.


These two can't speak but a few words of the other's language but have some of the funniest conversations!



Here's the happy couple. They are awesome! Her colors were red and everything about the wedding was beautiful (which lasted about 2 hours - then the reception, we we left after 4 hours and included mariachis, a laso entertainment team, performances by Danny and other amazingly talented people. The live band had almost ten members. There were 500 people at the reception. It was incredible.)



This is Danny singing to his new bride. He is amazingly talented. All of his brothers are in the same mariachi band. It was a great testimony of love. They sure knew how to throw a party.


The happy couple. Just after this, Danny had the biggest smile on his face. It was great to see. I have another wedding next weekend too. Welcome to the life of a single mid-20's girl.

For Your Prayers...

Someone keeps telling me that I need to update this thing. But I'm spending too much time doing other stuff right now. I do want to write a post about my weekend as a soccer / golf mom. It was very interesting and enlightening for my heart.

But for now, I'm going to leave you with my prayer page for Young Life. I try to keep this page updated for the things going on in my ministry here in Plano. And there's also a list of answered prayers. Just click this link or the post title.

Classic picture

It was our last dinner night in the formal dining room with the fam and what does a WyldLife leader decide to do? See who can balance a spoon on their nose the longest. Since the real competition is between my brother and I - it was on. I really let him win because after a few minutes, it was boring. Not to mention the fact that his nose is bigger - so not a fair competition anyway.

Cruisin' with the Fam

This was my home for the last few days - The Carnival Ecstacy. I would certainly recommend it if you looking for a cruise.

This is my family: Aunt Kathy and Uncle Flack are sitting. Me, my step-sister Jessica, brother Kevin, mom Tina and step-dad, Stu. This was our formal night. whoo... watch out.

These are my parents... Tina and Stu... we celebrated Stu's 50th birthday. Looking pretty good for 50, dad. :) My mom is getting up there too... a few more years and she gets her Caddy.

Vijay (from India) and Pavlo (from Slovakia) were our waitors for the week. My mom wanted to adopt them by the end our trip. They were practically part of our family in her eyes. All of us grew very attached to them. Excellent servers - funny, whitty, clever, but extremely professional guys who are good at their jobs.

Here's me and the boys. Had they been single, I think my mom would have arranged a marriage. Check out my funky tan!

The water in Cozumel and Calica was beautiful. My mom took this picture. It's kinda weird because you can't tell what I doing, but I'm actually just putting on sunscreen.

Every night our stewards made us animals - very cute.

This is where I'm going to build my home.

This my house! :) Not really - but it would be nice. It reminds me of Juarez. Can't wait to go there in a couple of weeks.

Going Cruisin'

I'm headed for a cruise to Cozumel and some other place. I'm praying for sunny weather and good times with the fam. I plan on only fryin' myself. But hopefully I'll get some good pictures for ya'll too. Have a good week! I'll resume blogging upon my return to the real world.

Procrastination Brings Healing

I am sure there are many people out there who understand the need for procrastination (college students, youth ministers, etc.). Procrastination actually provides a little time for healing for me.

For example, the other night, I probably spent 2.5 hours playing a stupid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game on my "little bro's" Game Boy. He is always impressed to see that I've made it to the next level and always wants to know how I did that. But he doesn't get it, he's only 5 (almost 6). So, I'm trying to be cool for him, but yet, playing this stupid game for a couple of hours was actually restful for me instead of constantly going, going, going.

Like I said before, a youth minister's job is never done. I can't just shut off when I go home. But doing mindless things like slaying giant dinosaurs with horns and capturing blue crystals somehow bring healing to me. I'm the overachiever who always has to accomplish something, even if it is figuring out how to beat a child's video game. Mindless. Mostly pointless. But healing none the less.

Of course, it probably adds to it the next day when I don't have anything done. Oh well. I'll never get it right.