Gracious!

Let me first say that the south lost ultimate frisbee on Friday by one point. It was the quickest game to eight I've ever played. But there is a rematch tomorrow same time, same place. So wish us luck. We are going to kick tail this time and the cleets are coming out. There will be elbows and there may be a few people tripping. Whoops.

So...Saturday....white water rafting. Good times, good times. Left at 6:00 am and headed out to the Arkansas River. We got into those horrible wet suits. In which, mine had a whole in the butt, so I politely asked for another one. There we are, walking down to the river in what is tight spandex and I must say, guys look the funniest. You look at these macho, manly guys, and then they have on a wetsuit that pretty much makes their arms and legs look smaller and they look like twigs, but it does nothing but enlarge the women. What is that about? Not sure really. The first of the day was pretty mild, we did a lot of paddling and we stopped for lunch. After lunch is when the rapids started up. The river was pretty good height but the rapids weren't that big. But still fun. I was on a raft with two guides (one was training), the e-journal guy, Steve, another administrative summer staffer, Heather, and my mentor, Emily. Emily managed to fall INTO the raft about a dozen times, which was quite humerous. I still don't know how she managed to do it, but then again, she's a special creature. We did some 360's in the raft, interesting. And...the only person to fall out of the raft the entire day was our training guide. He was so nice checking to make sure our life jackets were on good and he was getting back to his seat and flipped over. It was pretty funny.

That night the summer staffers, Jim, Emily, Aynsley, and Silas went to Zio's. A great little Italian restaurant down the street. The best manicotti I've ever had. Good times.

Oh, it's on!

Just finished a great lunch prepared by the hands of the summer staffers at Kingdom Building Ministries. And it was actually good for us. A mixture of salad greens with some great grilled chicken on it and hotdog on the side. It's that weird liking for hotdogs again. And...it was some people's birthdays so we had a cake. Wasn't that lovely? Jess and I like the corners with lots of icing, so there we went. (That's what you get for being the ones to cut and pass it out. My mouth was a nice shade of blue following the eating.

And...somewhere during the frenzy of lunch I declared Ultimate Frisbee war. Northerners vs. Southerners. Who do you think will win? We're playing this afternoon immediately following work and those Northerners are going down! I brought my cleets and I'm ready to kick some tail. I really think we have the advantage. I sure hope I don't have to put my foot in my mouth tomorrow.

Tomorrow is white water rafting day! We're leaving at o'dark o'clock. (6:00 am) We're traveling three hours or so and are headed down the river in some big old rafts. Dang we're going to have a good time.

Headed over to Emily's tonight for dinner and some hang time. Those kids of her's are AMAZING! Silas is 5 and Aynsley is 2.5. They are some of the most smartest, interesting, and hilarious children I've ever incountered. If you met them your life would be better for it. I wish I had brought my video camera out here to tape 'em.

Does anyone know what "boughten" means? Some people out here have a tendency of saying that word a lot. Not sure really.

Overwhelmed

Well...I just got off the internet looking at graduate programs to get my MBA. I checked out Clemson University in Clemson, SC and a bunch of schools in New York, NY. I thought that would be a cool place to go to school. I feel extremely overwhelmed by it all. Not sure if that is where God is leading me, but still checking it out just in case. Requested some information on the schools, so they should be headed my way. It would be exciting to go back to school when I graduate and I would definitely love to get my master's. It's just the work of it all. Continuing with the late nights and the tests, etc. That is the only downfall. But there are downfalls to everything. So that's that.

Hotdogs

So it occurred to me that I'm eating a hot dog...as a child I used to love hotdogs. I would eat them boiled with mustard. Mom would cut them up for me. Then I went through a time in my life where I hated hotdogs. I thought they were the most repulsive things. Now I love hotdogs. Well...I wouldn't say love. I like them. But now I have them on a bun with spicy mustard. The like for spicy mustard was inherited from my dad who loves spicy mustard. He pretty much loves anything spicy. That's where we differ. It's not that I don't like spicy things. My mouth just can't handle them. Pepper is sometimes too much for me. One time in high school I was at a superbowl party and ate what I was told and that was raw okra, but was actually sliced jalapenos. As you can imagine I was not doing too well. My mouth was on fire. I guess that just shows how gullible I am.

Lately, I've been trying to eat more healthy. A friend, Mr. Joel, once told me, "Clean foods." I really don't know what that means exactly, but I'm assuming no fried and not a lot of "stuff" on it. That would make sense. So I've cut out fried things, although it's not hard out here in CO. It's not the south you know, where fried food is everywhere. And I've actually begun eating spinach salads instead of just regular lettuce. Of course I do hide the taste with Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette dressing made my Ken's. This is the best dressing I've ever tried. You put some walnuts in there with it and it's a delicious salad. More water is key, been doing that. I do slip when I can finally find a place that sells sweet tea out here. Whoops. Sorry mom. So on that note, I'm quite proud of myself. I have a really bad sweet tooth, and have not caved into it lately. That is so hard. Ladies you know what I mean. Chocolate is the key to life.

Blessings

Every morning the staff of Kingdom Building Ministries meets to pray. On Thursday we have devotionals. This morning Jimmie V talked about blessings. He referred to Genesis 12 and Ephesians 1. Basically God has given us every spiritual blessing. Every single one. Have you ever stopped to think how many that is? Anyway, yes God has blessed us with them, but we are not to hold onto those blessings, we are to pour those blessings out onto others around us. This morning the staff shared some of our most important blessings and how we can pour those onto others. It was a great time for us all to evaluate ourselves in a way. Thinking about all the blessings God has given me and thinking to myself, "Do I hoard them, or do I pour them out onto others?" I definitely don't do all that I could be doing.

thanks

Let me just say how thankful I am for good friends and for calls at just the right time. A Mr. Matty called me last night just to chat and this was a pleasant surprise seeing as how he's not much for phone calls and we haven't talked since graduation from college about three weeks ago. I really needed that one yesterday, kind of feeling like some friends had forgotten about me out here by myself in Colorado. (I know, poor me, that's not what I'm going for.) And a dear friend, Courtney called also, didn't get to actually talk, but she left a message although I haven't checked it yet. Whoops. Love you all.

afterthoughts

It just occurred to me after talking to a friend (Natalie), that all of this that I'm writing, everyone can read and know about me. That makes me quite vulnerable. Hadn't thought of that. Interesting. Possibly a growth opportunity for me I believe. This could be exciting. It could also not be exciting. Oh, but life is sometimes. We'll see how it goes.

new beginnings

A few hours ago I heard an incredible message called, "In God's Eyes". Oh, for those who don't know, I am here in Aurora, CO at Kingdom Building Ministries working as summer staff. Anyway, at the present time there The Laborer's Institute is going on. So....I went in on this class and it's basically about God's love for me. This, of course, is nothing new that I've never heard before, but still God spoke to me in a special way. Dave (the guy who spoke) kept telling us that we make God smile, He finds pleasure in us, etc. And at the very beginning he tells us not to put up a screen or a wall for some people. This is what I found myself doing. It was not until after Dave spoke when I was sitting with my journal reflecting that I realized what a huge impact his message had on me. I have to realize that God does not see me, think about me, or react to me in the same way as anyone on this earth. He is one of His own. He is His own holy person. (I know this seems like duh, I know this, but for some it takes longer for it to really, truly sink in.) I have no right to think that God looks at me the same way anyone else does. God is not disappointed in me. He chose me from before the beginning. Note that I said BEFORE the beginning. I was not last picked. This is revolutionary. And something that I have not grabbed hold of for so long. So many people, including myself know in their minds that God loves them, but they don't feel it in their hearts. What's the deal with that? It's hard, frustrating, and freeing at the same time.

definition

Let me start by explaining why this is called Tall Blondes. Giraffes are by far my favorite animals. Having seen them on a very adventurous trip to Kenya with my dear friend, Karla, I found them to be the most beautiful, statuous creatures God has created. Scientifically they cannot exist. Their neck is too long for the blood to travel from their heart to their brain. So they should not exist, but they do and they are miracles. That is one reason, the other is that I live with three blondes. Three of us are tall and one is short, but I can pretend.