Key West

Waiting for Sunset - Ft. Zachary Taylor

Readjusting to reality is tiring.... especially returning from an island adventure! Here are some pictoral highlights with some extra *highlighted* memorable tidbits.

American came through as far as our flight not being canceled or even late, but

*NO COMPLIMENTARY SNACKS on AMERICAN AIRLINES*

are served, just a beverage and the option to buy snacks. This was a bit... unexpected, so we were starved when we arrived in Miami!

We made our first Florida stop in South Beach, at the same time as some big beach festival... wish we'd known! No parking, lots of people - very cool scene but we opted for the Lincoln "mall". It is an interesting outdoor, several blocks long mall and

*EVERYONE WALKS THEIR DOGS, SNAKES, ALLIGATORS AND SKUNKS!*

Wish we had more pictures of that, but I think seeing these creatures among The Gap and Starbucks was slightly shocking. And fun! We likely would have had several days of entertainment had we just stayed in South Beach!Me Behind a Plexiglass fountain at Lincoln Center Mall, Miami Beach

Our first meal in Florida we decided to try to stick with food items we would not ordinarily eat or were regionally popular or at least sounded that way!! We started off with a tomato, cucumber, cilantro, raw tuna and salmon tartar appetizer drenched in wasabi. Just for the record, we pretty much never eat fish, and when we do it's never raw. Anyway, we loved it!

*DESPITE BEING PREPARED FOR WONDERFUL KEY WEST SUNSETS, OUR BEST SUNSET WAS WITNESSED IN SOUTH BEACH!*

We spent the night in a Comfort Inn in Florida City.

*NO COMMENT*

Early Sunday, after a bit of messing with that dang convertible, we drove off South on Route 1, 120+ miles from our exotic destination. The weather was phenomenal and we were really excited to be driving. Once we made it out onto Key Largo we began to take in the multiply blue hued waterways, island pelicans and hot,

*HOT*T Driving His Convertible (wishing it was a Corvette, not a Sebring!)

Florida sun. So happy we rented that convertible.T at Seven Mile Bridge

We saw.... The Seven Mile Bridge, sailboats, many keys, lighthouses, sunscreen, one unknown sea creature, old bridges, silly tourists, all the places we want to bring our girls back to visit and smooth sailing (or cruising) straight to Key West. Once on KW, we decided to drive down Route 1 through the old town. I had printed a map of old KW off google before we went, so we used that to navigate around. It was adorable upon first sight. I can't say that I ever mastered my way around, but I certainly can find all the things we wanted to see.Can You Find T? Our Hotel Pool

We checked into the Sheraton (more on that later) and spent the day at the pool, tried a Mojito

*YUMMO*Mojito - lime, mint, rum, soda.... delicious!

and went to Fort Zachary Taylor for our first Keys sunset. This would have been a great venue for snorkeling had we known AND we probably should have visited the Fort. Instead, we lounged by the windy shore waiting, and waiting, and waiting... for a sunset that was, well, mediocre. But it was fun! We figured out that the brilliant colors I was seeing had a lot to do with my sunglasses, so we took a few pictures with my sunglasses in front the lens.Sunset (booze cruise) at Ft. Zachary, compliments of my sunglasses!

*EVERYTHING LOOKS BETTER THROUGH UV FILTER SUNGLASSES! ;-)*

That evening, we found a little restaurant called Duffy's - one of the oldest on the island, and enjoyed an excellent dinner - T had Salmon and I had Chicken Alfredo (which I don't normally order - too buttery) and then took some Key Lime Pie back to our room.

*I NOW RANK KEY LIME PIE RIGHT UP THERE WITH CHOCOLATE!*

Monday morning we got ourselves up early, had a great breakfast at our hotel and went straight downtown to take one of those Old Time Trolley's everywhere. We spent all day with people mostly older than us (LOL) but learned many interesting facts about Key West that we would never had learned on scooters. Although,

*WE WILL RENT SCOOTERS NEXT TIME WE GO*

Some interesting Key West facts learned from Old Town Trolleys: most KW buildings have tin roofs to keep fires from spreading quickly, the last direct hit from a hurricane was in 1919, they used to harvest salt in old salt ponds that are now, well, just ponds, there are no natural beaches on Key West - all sand is brought in from the Bahamas, old KW is the original island - new KW is the section added by the Navy when they dredged up and nearly ruined the coral reef, Casa Marina is the first resort destination in KW - built by Flagler to attract tourists who now make up most of the revenue on the island, KW has heavy Bahamian and Cuban influences, making it extremely diverse in many ways - especially when all the white tourists show up! hehe Oh, and T!

*OLD TOWN TROLLEYS ONLY OPERATE DURING THE DAY - MAKE NO MISTAKE, LIKE WE DID, AND ASSUME THEY WILL BE THERE AFTER SUNSET TO TAKE YOU HOME!*

KW is the "2 x 4" island - 2 miles by 4 miles. The "Gold Coast" of KW likes in the center, where the one and only waterway where you can dock your own personal yacht in your backyard is home to KW's wealthiest citizens.Kind of Self Explanatory!

On Monday we say Hemingway's house, the Southernmost Point (open to the public!), The Shipwrecker's Museum, The Little White House, Duval Street and all it has to offer and Mallory Square. We also ate at a Cuban Restaurant on Mallory Square.At the Top of the Shipwrecker's Tower

*PLANTAIN CHIPS ARE AWESOME, AS ARE CUBAN BREAD DIPS, PULLED MEATS AND RICE*

We hung around Mallory Square for the sunset celebration, street performers and a bit of a better sunset. In general, it was just pure fun!!

When we got back to our hotel, we felt completely old, even though that trolley guy who sold us tickets said we looked to young to have children. (I didn't dare tell him I had a 10 year old after that compliment!) Our plan to try the jacuzzi never materialized in part due to the approaching stormy weather and our total exhaustion.

*WITH BETTER SHOES, WE COULD HAVE EASILY WALKED TO ALMOST EVERYTHING WE DID DOWNTOWN. THE TOUR WAS MORE FUN, THOUGH!*

We got some good sleep, then got up early to give snorkeling a try. We started out on a cold, blustery morning across the street from our hotel to Smathers Beach. There were seriously 3 other people on the beach, oh, and the sea grass rake machine operator. The rental booth had an "OPEN" sign flying but was clearly closed and I'm pretty sure nobody was even awake and getting ready to arrive. I guess when it's only in the low 60's and 40 mph wind gusts, beach life takes a break!! So, instead of snorkeling, T took a quick dip? saunter? knee high visit?? into the ocean. It was record breakingly short, but he did it! We then decided to try the pool again. We were again alone, but I found the pool water to be quite warm, especially when finished off by a visit to the jacuzzi.

After showering a packing, we had sadly our last breakfast at the Sheraton before heading out. It was really too short a visit, and we knew that, but we are both so glad we went. On our ride home, we stopped to walk the 7 mile bridge but the water was so choppy and the wind so gusty we didn't make it far. We also checked out the Dolphin Research Center in Islamorada. Very cool place, we will try that when we take the girls back someday.Some lucky people who swam with dolpins (in 62 degree weather!) Brr!

*THOSE DOLPHINS WERE THE FIRST MARINE LIFE WE SAW, OTHER THAN THE UNIDENTIFIED SEA CREATURE OUR FIRST DAY!*

T was quite motivated to find the airport on our own, so we ended up arriving 4 hours early for our flight and sitting around for a long, long time in Miami International Airport. I would have preferred more shopping or another trip down South Beach, but instead we enjoyed yet another piece of Key Lime Pie (our third!). Then home.

*BRUSHING UP ON THAT SPANISH WOULD BE HIGHLY USEFUL IF HEADING TO MIAMI!!!*

Now, we're home... and I want to go back!Sunset at Mallory Square

**ON MY NEXT VISIT TO KEY WEST, I WILL GO ON A BOAT WITH OR WITHOUT MY SUPPOSEDLY SEASICK HUSBAND. I NEED TO SEE THE REEF!!**

Best Job

This is a GREAT story on CNN about a woman who created something incredible out of tragedy. It's a wonderful story, exactly the kind of things I'd love to see more of in terms of aid to Africa. If you really want to make a difference, invest in something like this!!

One More Day!

So, we leave tomorrow, Lord willing, on an American flight for Miami. Spend a night there, then drive down to Key West on Sunday in our (hopefully) convertible for a couple nights of fun in the sun! I cannot wait, although I understand I may be waiting in some lines.... luckily, so far our flight has not been canceled and from what we can tell does not involve the dreaded MD 80 plane. Let's hope we're reading that correctly! Today... cleaning, laundry and getting ready for Mom to come watch the girlies - they are excited!

Supporting SPACE

Of course, every summer, we have a huge number of people that support our summer teams. None of these teams are viable without friends, family, and partners within our networks that pray for and financially support our teams.

This year, in order to make it a bit easier for those that feel led to help with finances, we have two methods for electronic giving. The first is via a PayPal account. If you give this way, it comes to our direct account - therefore this is not tax deductible. Click on the "Donate" button, which will take you to PayPal information for our personal account.

The second way is to give via our the electronic giving vendor that our church uses. Click the icon to give to one of our SPACE teams, which will take you to eGive's page for donations to Grace Community Church. After entering the appropriate donor and bank information, fill in the amount for "Short Term Missions" and specify for "SPACE Hungary - Shengs". Or you can give to any of our other teams :
2008 - Baltimore
2008 - Cameroon
2008 - England
2008 - NYC
Just fill in the appropriate team after where it says "Short Term Missions."

Thank you for supporting SPACE. Of course, you know you are supporting students getting to serve and bless in other contexts. You are also supporting the real time lab of global mission, students and leadership. Expect that your investment will certainly multiply and know that we are so, so appreciative!

RSS readers, there is some embedded java script. Or something.

[PS - We think we got all the links correct. Please double check the info before you submit and let us know if something doesn't look quite right.]

God Can Do Anything!

If he can get the top 8 American Idol finalists to sing praise to Him on primetime TV... I'm convinced! (sorry about the end!)

When Community Ends

There is nothing more devastating, in my opinion, than when community is disrupted. This happens when groups split up, when people move, when people get sick, there's a natural (or unnatural) disaster, or even death. It's always traumatic and sometimes it causes us to lose trust in the overseer of that community, whether that be a person, a group of people or God. I could go on and on, but I'll just cut to the chase.

Many of you know that my girls and I, although in the past year definitely more me, have been part of an online community/game run by Disney called VMK, or Virtual Magic Kingdom. Almost three years ago, I got this goofy email from Disney asking me if I'd like to be a cool mom and sign my child up for this new community. Of course, at the time, I was completely in love with Disney. We'd made several trips there, our family had enjoyed a few Disney vacations and I honestly didn't know what I was getting myself into!! I'd never joined an online community, let alone an online game.

To make a long story short, what Disney had apparently intended to be a year long 50th anniversary promotion (of course, that intent was never really communicated at onset to their fans), ended up continuing into a huge, three year online community/game complete with message boards, expert room builders, expert gamers, people having multiple "mules" and VMKers amassing massive amounts of virtual "stuff"! There were (and probably still are) sales of these virtual items on ebay, bringing in loads of money.

My part in all of this?? I joined two online communities, met in person a few of the people I met online (not recommending this, although for me it's been fine), and enjoyed some of my downtime with friends I've made in the game. It's an environment where we all have made our own rooms, can chat with each other, play a few games Disney has added and wander around the Magic Kingdom online. Really... it's just fun! Kt enjoys decorating her rooms with credits I win for her, Em enjoys buying costumes and changing her clothes. We completed several of their in park quests while on various vacations and have brought home virtual prizes that we've shared with friends who can't make it to the parks.

VMK, while it's not as large as some other online communities such as Second Life or Hobotown(?), has on average 6,000-8,000 players on line in the evenings and on weekends. Right now, it serves people all over the world, many of whom stay up all hours of the night to play as it's only open from 10am - 1am eastern time. There are message boards for Disney addicts who play, for small groups of friends who play and I've even visited one that is totally devoted to room building. While there are frustrating things about the game (like the fact that the bigger the kingdom gets, the fewer things my laptop can handle!), the fact that people can mingle online is the one thing about VMK that brings everyone back.

For this whole school year, I've basically been off of VMK, unable to play games but checking in with everyone when I can. Yes, I have friends on the game. I call them friends because they are. I'd like to think that if I met them in person I'd still like them, but I don't know that! LOL Online, they are friends, a community. I've seen people meet through VMK and get married, have regular park meet-ups and we've gone through losing people, medical issues, marriage issues, parented together - sometimes I've even felt like some of these people are like family. On one board, they affectionately refer to each other as "ohana", which means family... from Lilo & Stitch. So, why am I telling you all this???

Disney announced to it's VMK players through a newsletter hidden on the VMK page that on May 21st, they will shutting off VMK. That's it - just ending it. No warning, in fact they've produced a surge of VMK items and events in the past three months that would have led any VMKer to assume quite the opposite. Instead, they are just shuttering the entire community, without nary a sign of remorse. It's a big deal for a lot of people. For me, it's sad, disappointing, but most of all kind of the last straw for me and Disney. I had always been prepared for the possibility that Disney would convert this game into a pay to play venue, but just turning it off? It just seems like a failure to see the limitless possibilities, but more importantly I'm shocked that a supposedly family oriented company that relies on it's die hard Disney freaks would effectively decimate such a hugely successful venture.

Disney aside, because their luster has faded in my eyes, I'm sad that I can't check in with my virtual friends anymore. Of all the online communities I've seen - Second Life, Webkins, Hobo, World of Warcraft(?) - VMK is a stand alone in my opinion. It's monitored fairly well, has some fun games, is familiar to anyone who knows anything about Disney and can be fun for kids and adults as well. I don't believe that anyone foresaw the potential the creation of this community would have, and they obviously don't see the impact that breaking it up will have on those who have come to love it.

So, what happens when we're separated from our community, when the world we once felt comfortable in vaporizes?? I'm not sure, because in real life that's just a rare, extremely traumatic event. An earthquake, war, tornadoes, death, tsunami, or even 9/11 are examples of the instantaneous breakdown of community. This does not quite compare to something that catastrophic, at least not at first sight. This community will disappear in an instant, with no fanfare, no FEMA, no outpouring of sympathy. In fact, for most people it will not even be a blip on their radar. But I'm willing to bet that for many, kids, teenagers and adults, there will be a void that can't easily be replaced with something similar. Friends we knew only online will be gone. I'm also willing to bet that in this age of increased virtual activity, we'll see more communities end like this. I guess I just never thought it would happen by the hand of Disney!

Post on TheDisneyBlog about this closure.

Another story today on this in St. Louis.

Renovation / Short-sightedness

T talks about this (shortsightedness) a lot, but in the opposite way. In what we do with SPACE and students, he is envisioning 10, 20 and 500 years from now, what impact will what they do have on the world. Casting that vision to students is not an easy task, because their lives are more in the here and now mostly due to inexperience. Creating meaningful experiences for them to think beyond themselves and their time allows them to develop a different world view than most typical teenagers.

Last night, I went to a meeting where the girls' elementary school renovation plan was presented. I must say, I was really disappointed. I'm grateful the county is finally putting 10 million dollars into our school, mostly to bring the 25 year old building up to code and making sure it meets all the safety standards necessary for the time we live in. However, there are desperate needs in our school that are not being addressed, and I just can't believe the county would bother putting 10 million dollars into a building and refuse to see what's right in front of us.

For one, our school has fully utilized three portable classrooms (all that we can fit on our tiny property) for at least the entire time our kids have been there. They have been used as overflow classroom space, GT classrooms and the music room. There are no bathrooms in a portable, so the kids now have to walk through a second grade classroom to get to a bathroom - outside in an insecure, uncovered area. For me, that is a point of great concern. Not addressed at all - not even with a fence.

Secondly, this 25 year old building is going to be completely retrofitted with all the newest in technology. The doors will be secured with ID card entrances, a new PA system will be installed, direct access to the county central maintenance system installed and video surveillance added. They are also basically gutting the inside of the building and redoing everything - heating, AC, walls, plumbing, all the cosmetics... but they left out new kitchen appliances. And I wonder: how could that have been left off the agenda??? We're replacing toilets, doors, windows, floors, computers, ducts, electrical wiring. We're leaving 25 year old refrigerators, ovens - that are constantly being fixed, sinks/plumbing in this "new" building. Makes no sense.

Finally, nothing is increasing in size. They, of course, offered "all their projections" and how no new space will be needed.... Well, guess what? We are using a portable for a second grade classroom, just last year our "projected" three kindergarten classes easily turned into 4 oversized kindergarten classes and they are still building more new homes in our district. I think they might reconsider their projections!

All in all, a very shortsighted plan. But it really an example of all the planning in our county where schools are concerned. New housing is surging through the roof, new school buildings... slowly plodding along. It's a terrible example to the generation it's serving, and it only perpetuates the mindset in kids that we can only do so much. What a pathetic excuse for.... I won't say it. But really, that's not at all what we want to infuse in our SPACE kids.

I'm really excited for this year and for a vision for these kids that what they will participate in this year, whether it be New Orleans, Cameroon, Hungary, England or Baltimore, that their contribution will have a lasting impact on generations to come. It's more than giving up a week or two of their summer and traveling with friends somewhere. It's impacting lives for Christ so that He will be known in the world. We're out to renovate the world!

No Comfort

If I were a parent or student at this Montgomery County high school, I would receive little comfort in this statement:

"The big news here is there was not an intent to harm a student," said Lucille Baur, a police spokeswoman. "Students brought the guns in with the purpose of selling the guns, and in the process, a gun accidentally discharged. It was not pointed at anyone, and no one was injured by it."

I mean, really.... what do you think they were buying the gun for??? Duh.

Clemens Clubhouse

I'm going to a building improvement meeting tonight for the girls' school renovations beginning this summer. I was explaining to Em why I'm not going to be at GGA when Kt gets dropped off tonight. Here's the convo:

Em: Is there GGA tonight?

Me: Yes, but I'm not going to be there when daddy drops you off. I'm going to a meeting about all the building they will do at your school this summer.

Em: WHAT? What are they doing?

Me: I don't know, but I'm going to find out tonight. They are going to be making things better, though.

Em: You know what I think they should do?

Me: (Curiously!) What do you think would make it better?

Em: They should make a password! (she said this while raising her eyebrows in her ever so clever way.)

Me: Really? Like a password to get into the school?

Em: Yeah... and then they should add doors onto all the rooms and make lots of passwords for people to get in!!

OK, so she envisions a labyrinth of secret passageways, which obviously will create a safer environment for those lockdowns, much like the one they had today! (Shooting in the area!) I like the door idea. The password is a bit much, but unfortunately, times are achangin'!

Currently, the girls' elementary school is divided into "pods", which I happen to think are really distracting, not secure and not very conducive to teaching. They have made it work remarkably... by adding a wall a year! =) This renovation will hopefully fix the open classroom environment, allowing for lockdowns that actually might work. I mean, why bother having kids congregate together in a room with no door? should some psycho storm the building??

So, off I go to this meeting, where I will also find out if Kt will be subjected to her last year of elementary school in a portable!!

Polls

Who gets called for these things? I sure don't!

Worship

An old friend of mine moved to Australia last year to pastor a vineyard church. I was just poking around their church website and found this link to a "worship" message. It was pretty convicting for me, as I've recently become a bit dismayed by the seemingly programmed worship at our church. It was a good reminder that worship isn't about us.

Run, Condi, Run

I think this guy might have read my blog - LOL! Anyway, an interesting read on the possibility of McCain adding Condi onto his ticket. Then I'd vote for sure. ;-)

Cars & Ideas

Today T took my car to get the emissions done so I had his old clunker. I gathered all my things and hopped in for a quick ride to the gym for my water aerobics class, and as I was sitting in his car at the bus stop, waiting for the girls to get on before I was off, I started remembering what it was like when his old car was our new car. It smelled nice (I won't mention the stench now... oh, I just did!), it purred like a kitten (OK, maybe a cheetah!) and it was our "fun" car! Now, time has taken it's toll on this car. It burns oil, has little pick-up and compared with the car we just bought last October, it's old and run down. The back bumper is still busted because my husband refuses to fix it. It looks, sounds and acts like a very old car!

As I was truckin' down the highway, wondering if that acrid smell was coming from me!, I was thinking that old cars are a lot like ideas. We envision them - brand, new Corvette.... (that's what T's always dreaming about!), smells nice, shiny. We might actually realize one of them, ride in it, purchase it, own it... Then, after using it many times it loses it's luster. It's just a car, it's not new anymore, it wreaks of it's own innards falling apart. At some point we realize it's just not going to hold up any longer. It's even lost it's capability to be recycled and renewed. Time to junk it and find something new or it might just fail us.

I had decided, as part of this post I was formulating in my mind, that during my water aerobics class I would go through the file of ideas in my head (always thinking) and figure out which ones had reached the limit of life... which ones I could recycle and renew and where I needed to birth new ideas. In fact, had the gym actually been open and not void of electricity, this might have been a better post. Instead, I realized that my idea to take water aerobics this morning over group power (located at a different gym, needing registration) was a bad (dead) idea! So, here I am, back at home.... and you get this incomplete idea!

SPACE status

I think T probably does this more often than I do, but after this crazy week and not having mentioned our pending trips, I figured I'd update everyone...

We finally found a (brand, spankin' new) hostel in Vienna that is less than a kilometer from the hotel we stayed at last summer. It's nice because they were happy to accommodate us, seeing as they aren't even open yet (YIKES) and we are slightly familiar with that area. I actually found it while doing a search for another International House that I was unable to find... they were also offering to host us, but it was outside of Vienna, a bit farther than we'd hoped for. Maybe that's why I couldn't find it? Anyway, God orchestrated a something out of nothing, as usual, and we are good to go. Now, just having to find away to get all 26 of us from the airport to the hostel with all of our luggage. No biggie! ;-)

Last weekend we had a large number of SPACE leaders over for lunch, Stengths Finder discussions and fellowship. We ordered a couple of those huge Subway party subs, I made some really gross chocolate chip cookie bars (realizing only yesterday that my incorrect ingredient was baking soda instead of baking powder - what a difference that one mistake made, let me tell you!) and we forgot the diet soda... will not happen again, I promise! It is really a blessing to be able to host these things here, but for real, if SPACE continues to grow like this, we're gonna run out of "space" around here pretty fast! Pun intended!

BIG EVENT!!! Ok, fundraising is probably my least favorite part about these trips, HOWEVER, quite honestly, it's one of the ways in which God reveals his heart towards us every single summer. Financials weigh heavy on T's heart and soul and every year we squeak by, but it's an area where we know it's only by God's hand (and big pocket) that we can pull this off. He has encouraged us in ways no human can with our silly fundraising efforts. Not only that, but he has given us ways to communicate with our community what He's doing in the world - even if we are asking for help. Sometimes if baffles me the part that people unknowingly play in His work by "paying" us to wash their windows, wash their cars, donating items for..... OUR SILENT AUCTION. Yes, that's our big event this year. Luckily, there are some people who have done this before because I sure haven't. I'm not sure what I was thinking when this idea popped into my head.

Anyway, we talked about this last Saturday and I thought everyone was on board... but we have not heard boo about it all week. And this scares me a bit, but I'm still excited. And slightly frightened. Here's what we still need: a location, an event, donations. Just three really big things! No biggie, right?? Once again, our induction into the nearest insane asylum is emminent. Thank goodness T and I aren't doing this one alone! (Thanks, Erin!)

Really, each of our trips is off to a great start. And even though we have started early this year, we understand, as one of our CAI friend put it, God is often so last minute! Why? I think because He wants us to trust him, depend on Him and to know it's not about us at all... all for Him.

Countdown

In 8 days I'll be on my way to Key West, Florida. Let the giddiness begin! hehe

Waiting

That's what I'm doing. I have a huge list of things to do, but I'm just waiting. I put a batch of something in the oven, waiting for it to be done. An electrician friend of ours was supposed to be here half an hour ago, so I'm waiting for him. Em will be home in half an hour, then we're going shopping for some birthday present, groceries for a meal I'm making for someone, stamps so I can finally mail these support letters off... I'm just waiting. Personally, I think it's very difficult to wait. For sure, that's been a challenge in my life - I'm sort of impatient. Unless, of course, I'm just waiting for the right time to decide what to do with the rest of my life. Then I'm way too patient with myself!!

Catalytic Converters

A woman in my Tuesday morning Connections Bible study sent out an email last night. While at our church that morning, someone sawed out her catalytic converter. This is a problem of epidemic proportions in our county, and I'm sure in many others. T received a warning about this back in January at his work and anyone I've talked to who has a Toyota truck or SUV has either had this done to them or knows someone who has. It can also happen if you have a Lexus.

Our church is next to and has use of a commuter parking lot, which I'm guessing was the intended target of this thief. I guess they figured a church was a soft target as well, not to mention the new, upscale office complex across the street. It had to have happened between 9:30 - 10:30, they work very fast, use a handsaw and saw that baby off in seconds. Why? I've read that it's to sell the precious metals in them, but T's work notice said something about using them for meth labs. I don't know how accurate that is, but the warning is really just don't mess with these guys. The notice for T was basically if you hear anything unusual, turn and walk away. I wonder who wrote that notice??

Anyway, if you have a Toyota truck or SUV or a Lexus SUV, be forewarned!

Mornings Minus Quiet Times

I'll admit it, I'm not entirely disciplined about quiet times to begin with, but I do enjoy the quiet part! This morning, any chance of having anything resembling quiet was interrupted by a rude contractor in my neighbor's backyard. Our backyards are quite small, so just having anyone in their yard feels too close. However, this annoying contractor brought his dog along and tied him to a tree....

Now, let's pause and evaluate this. If you were a contractor, would you bring your dog with you to a job? I've never seen a contractor do this. Nor did I think it was particularly necessary. It's not like you need a guard dog around our neighborhood or anything!! Let's just say, however, that you are a contractor who absolutely MUST bring your dog to a job. What would you do with him?? Tie him to a tree and let him run all over the neighbor's yard as if it's no big deal???

So he ties this dog to a tree that sits on the property line and, of course, his dog is all over my yard, can practically walk up my back steps and my two little chihuahuas (that's what they sounded like today, so for arguments sake, just imagine this) spent 30 minutes straight yapping away at this dog while he ran around and howled outside. Does this seem right??

Now, any good contractor (human being?) would recognize this is going to be a problem. Not this dufus. He just kept measuring, shaking his head (at my dogs??) and walking around to the front of the house to get things out of his truck.... most of the time I had no idea where this guy was.

Here I was, in my pajamas, not about to go outside and say anything because I'm an INTJ. No, I just fumed inside my house and eventually called my neighbor. They were not home (well, they didn't answer their phone! nor did they call back), so I left a message asking if they could please ask their contractor to tie his dog on the tree that is in their yard because my dogs were going ballistic.

I hopped in the shower for a break from all the yapping and when I got out, it was just as noisy. I quickly got myself ready, then put my dogs in their crates and went outside. I walked over and said, "Do you think you could move your dog over to that tree....." before I could even offer a reason why, this guy whines to me, "Well, if I move her there she can't see me!" Then he huffed off and said he'd tie her to our other neighbor's tree!!!! What??? What I wanted to say was, "Well, if I kill her, then you won't be able to see each other!"

You see, that's what happens when I don't have a quiet time.... and I'm afraid, from the looks of all that wood piled up outside my neighbor's house, that we aren't going to be having many quiet days this week!! UGH.

Seriously, if I posted a picture of our back yards, you would wonder to yourself, "Where are they even going to put a deck?" That's how close our houses are....

Clueless

Sometimes, as a parent, I feel completely clueless. Here are some reasons why:

~ Em "cleaned" her room, and I found (I'll post a picture later) she had hung all her plastic bead necklaces on hangers from her dresser drawer knobs... why does her idea of clean = a messier room?

~ Kt has a quiz tomorrow in math on fractions, capacity (measurement) and elapsed time... is it possible that I made it to calculus and have no idea what elapsed time is? or is that some code name for something I actually did but there is some new name for it? I have no idea because Kt does her homework and schoolwork before I ever have a chance to absorb any of it!

Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed by our communication gaps, my kids basically amaze me on many levels. I cannot comprehend life without them now that they're here, and for that reason my mind has been focused on Amy Castillo. Many prayers and thoughts her way tonight.

Safety Capsule

I have weeks where I feel like my little family is in this safety capsule that is equally protected and on the edge of bursting. This is definitely one of those weeks!! We've had good news, bad news and tragic news but we're on this little island for now.

Good news: my neighbor had her baby and they're healthy, home, happy. I'm really so encouraged and excited about that. Our neighbor, who has 6 kids and one on the way and the same exact lymphoma my father had just received an all clear in remission report on his latest PET scan. It's a miracle! T had his first review at the job he's had for a year and it was awesome - very encouraged, very happy. We're gearing up for our little pre-anniversary getaway in Key West next weekend... Yay!

Bad news: T's dad is having more test for another "odd" thing on his latest MRI. A young woman in my Bible study group had a stroke resulting from a chiropractic manipulation that caused what was thought to be vertigo... but was really a tear in an artery that in the past three weeks completely clotted and blocked that artery causing a stroke - will be taking them a meal tomorrow. She needs to learn how to walk again - with a 2 year old and a 4 month old at home. Our friend and genex pastor of our church had 2 seizures last night and is in the hospital. T went last night, as did many other people who know and love him. Prayer for that family and all other mentioned here.

Tragedy: I mentioned earlier that the family in the news - father who killed his children in Baltimore Marriott - went to the school I used to teach at. It seems that many of my friends knew them, the director of the Mother's Day Out program I work for is very good friends with this poor mom and was with her when she received the news on Sunday. Please continue to pray for her, the community that has been deeply devastated by this unbelievable event. I'm very disturbed by each part of this story I hear in the news as well as from the many who knew them. Having dealt with a family member who also suffers from a mood disorder I know how frightening it can be and how frustrating it is to attempt to protect those you love. I just really wish our judicial system recognized how serious mental health issues are and would be more proactive in protecting children, who tend to be the innocent victims caught in the crossfire.

So I'm at this point where I'm feeling like things around us are kind of falling apart and we're intact. I'm just wondering for how long! But I'm so thankful for a faithful God, a peaceful home, a strong family unit and that I can help even in small ways.

Prayer

As many people already know, there was a terrible tragedy yesterday in Baltimore when a father drown his three very young children at the Inner Harbor Marriott hotel. I just found out today that two of those children attended the school where I taught, a Christian school in Silver Spring. I'm just calling on you all to lift that mom up and that school up in your prayers. It's a devastating loss for that community. Sadly, they held a funeral just over a year ago for a child who was murdered by his father. That this would happen twice there is really heartbreaking.

Just Another Manic Monday

Whoa, oh! Hehe, truly, it's not going to be as bad as it sounds, there are just way too many things happening today that I'm feeling like I'll forget something! I'm feeling disjointed. Of course, that might be lack of sleep. Yesterday I was jolted out of bed by T telling me our neighbor was trying to call us on one of our cell phones that was on vibrate.... so I quickly jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and ran down to their house. They went off to have their baby!! This is my neighbor who was told back in November that if she even made it to term, her baby would weigh no more than 2 pounds. She was born yesterday at 9:04 (they left the house at 8:15!!) and was a whopping 9 pounds 9.6 ounces. Sometimes multiple opinions are necessary! =)

Today I have a plethera of things to try to accomplish: volunteering in first grade, working in the lunch room, possibly visiting my neighbor if she isn't home already!, grocery shopping, meeting someone here to give us an estimate on installing these gorgeous lights my mom bought us back in November, mailing out our support letters that are finishsed, getting the girls off the bus, piano lessons, homework..... All mundane (sounding) and very routine. It's just the perfect storm of stuff, so to speak, and my head is already spinning.

I'm off to go set this perfect storm in motion - happy to have a few moments to myself first, thankful to have a God who orchestrates storms perfectly. =)

Easter: The Sequel

Our pastor today spoke on the above topic, which was built around John 3:16 and our response to Easter. It was awesome, and I felt like it was a great message for people who are on the fence, so to speak, about following Christ. I'd love to post a link to the message on our church website, but I'm not sure it works. =(

"Christianity" is not really all about what Christ/God did for us... it's more about how we live in response to what He did. For me, it's just so basic as that, which is why I think I really embraced what he was saying today. For me, all other religions are man-made as a response to not wanting to believe in God, in the gift of His son, His love for us - created in His image, choosing to want to live forever with him. I find it difficult to engage in conversations about religions other than those following Christ because to me they are just all false. Maybe that makes me intolerant, or maybe it just makes me a firm believer.

If I can get that message working, I'll link it here.

31,000

I had my 31,000th visitor today... from Germany! I have no idea who they are and what they were looking for, but they went to my page exactly one year ago today. So funny to remember that terribly bad hair cut, selling our art deco coffee tables on Craigslist and seeing that the cherry blossom trees bloomed last year on exactly this same day. Just saw some today!! Yay!

So, that's a lot of visitors. Of course, half of them are just my husband! ;-) Nice to be loved and stalked all at the same time!!

Re-entry

Typically when T and I talk about reentry we're referring to bringing our missions teams back home, to their "real world". When we do this, we design a debrief and when possible some kind of post trip support. Mostly, this is cultural in nature. In this post, however, I'm talking about those serving in the military and their reentry back to their lives apart from war.

When I was in grade school I had a friend who I was certain I was going to marry because 1) his father was a Baptist minister and he was the only Baptist I knew outside of those in my little Baptist church and 2) because he daily copied my spelling homework while we waited to be called as walkers to walk home halfway together. I assumed this meant that he at least like me and thought I was smart. Of course, at the naive age of 10 I knew very little about marriage, life or about war.

As we went through school together, I watched this friend develop into a gorgeous but crazy person who in high school lost all interest in anything academic and focused all of his attention on "training" himself to not feel pain. He came from a really nice family so I still to this day have no idea what led him to do that, but honestly, it was kind of painful to watch. His ultimate goal in all of this was to join the Marines, which he did right before Desert Storm.

B was smart, although he didn't think so, or if he did, he didn't want anyone else to know. While he honed his callous and hardened appearance and attitude, he was typically all smiles for me. Whenever we'd meet up at a party or at some event, he would smoke up a storm, perform crazy stunts for his friends like eating fish alive and tell funny stories. But when I'd get him alone, his heart would soften a bit and I'd hear a smidgen of his thoughts. And they scared me. Even more so, they were heartbreaking.

Stories about Boot Camp at Parris Island were crazy enough, but the tanks on the front lines in Iraq made me shudder. I'd heard plenty of news out of Iraq from my cousin, a career Army enlistee. We'd been penpals during his first round in Iraq. In college I wrote to him again and to B, but that was apparently only half of the story.

When B finally came home, I saw him for one of the last times. It was disturbing. He was 19/20 years old, was a hard core Marine and could barely hold a conversation with his friends, who each said he wasn't talking much to them. He sat in a corner, smoking, drinking and not looking entirely pleasant. I eventually made my way over to him, feeling pretty awkward and we started chatting. We moved outside and he finally just looked right at me and said, "Every night we had to clean our tanks off. I cleaned body parts.... I ran over people who I couldn't even see, they were little white blobs on my screen." In that moment, I saw for the first time since probably fourth grade, a deep sorrow in his deep blue eyes, something he'd not allowed himself to do in years - feel.

After talking with him that night, we lost touch and I really don't know where he is right now. Last I'd heard, he was off somewhere in the south, dating a nurse, got into a motorcycle accident and busted up his leg (making reenlistment no longer an option) and finishing wood floors. Never the same, always changed, forever broken.

All of these memories and more came flooding back to me last week in my Bible study group as a woman there shared her brother's experience. It was not quite the same, since her brother was someone we knew, never conditioned himself to feel nothing. He was in T's last D-team, the boys who are all getting married now, graduated from college and have "real" jobs. Her brother was sent to Afghanistan with his Army unit, fought on the front lines, experienced his best friend dying in his arms and is now home, serving the rest of his enlistment with the National Guard. His sister described to us a 22 year old who is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and getting very little support from the Army or the National Guard. They are very worried about him, and while he first had plans to join the police academy he can now only manage to wait tables at a local restaurant.

For anyone who has read my blog, you know I'm no anti-war protestor, in fact, I'm not even anti-war. I support what our troops are doing in the Middle East, but I think we owe it to each of them and their families to continue to support them in every way possible when they return. There was a hearing today in Maryland about the pathetic services these soldiers receive when they return and I'm more convinced than ever that we can do way better than this for people who choose to defend freedom around the world. This is serious, and for my two examples here, there are millions more, past and present, who deserve better than three power point presentations and volunteer counselors. That is just pitiful.

In a Pit

OK, let's just face it. If this were a book review blog, it would have sadly failed prior to onset! I'm just not a huge reader, but I'm trying. I just finished the book In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and by far my favorite chapter of all is right there at the end - all about being foolish. Here's my favorite excerpt (well, one of the anyway!):

But here's the deal: If you aren't willing to look foolish, you're foolish. In fact, faith is the willingness to look foolish.

Noah looked foolish building an ark in the desert. Sarah looked foolish buying maternity clothes at ninety. The Israelites looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets. David looked foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot. Beniah looked foolish chasing a lion. The wise men looked foolish chasing a yonder star. Peter looked foolish stepping out of a boat in the middle of the lake. And Jesus looked foolish hanging half-naked on the cross.

But that's the essence of faith. And the results speak for themselves...

... Can I tell you why some people have never killed a giant or walked on water or seen the walls come tumbling down? It's because they weren't willing to look foolish...

... The greatest breakthroughs, miracles and turning points in Scripture can be traced back to someone who was willing to look foolish. (pp 149-150)

This whole chapter really resonated with me. I really do think that I don't act foolish enough about Jesus, but I kind of chuckled to myself the other day when 2 of my Facebook friends, one I know very little of (but love his wife!) and the other an old friend from my pre-college days, both chose as a Superlative for me "Most Likely to Kick it With Jesus". Really? I'm glad they think so... or am I? Well, anyway, I love Jesus and if my friends don't know that then I'm in deep do-do.

Back to the book (this is why I don't do book reviews - I'm way too ADHD!).... I wonder to myself why we live so close to DC and we've not yet visited this guy's church. I've got another post on the horizon about why I think we have not wandered down south yet... that's for later. Back again. Here's what I love most about this book as a whole: it's a book for everyone who has a dream to chase. It's not a book about everything Christians do wrong (I'm really not liking those kinds) but about how to do life better, how to live, how to put your heart into living for God despite all the negative messages heading your directions. It's about chasing lions AND chasing dreams. I really think there's something for everyone, Christian or not, about grasping onto and holding onto passion. It's quite inspiring.

OK, so I'm not a great book reviewer, but I did love the book and thought of several people I'd love to have read it. It's been fun reading it in our small group, throwing around the ideas and our own dreams. So, if you have some time and can keep an open mind, I say give it a whirl. It's high on my list of recommendations. Now I'm off to tackle one of my lions: my (messy) house!!

What Keeps YOU Up at Night?

I sometimes am so tired but just can't fall asleep. It's usually on days where I have a million things running through my head that I can't really process fully. I think today is one of those days. Here are some of those things:

1) T was stressed out - trip stuff, family stuff, work stuff all converging and nothing really getting accomplished.

2) My neighbor is going to have her baby today, we're pretty sure, so I'll probably end up sleeping on her couch tonight, getting her girls up... then again, mabye I won't!

3) A young mom in my Bible study group, who we've known since she was in high school, has been suffering from vertigo for the past few weeks. They just found a lesion on her brain stem today, will do an angiogram tomorrow. I'm praying for some good news in all this but not really seeing it.

4) T's dad will be having yet another biopsy on a new "funny looking thing" - he just completed chemo for his second cancer in a year.

5) We're having all our summer leaders here for lunch on Saturday - potentially around 30 people... and I really need to clean this place up!

6) We are still nowhere with our overnight accommodations in Vienna and Paris, just waiting on Buffy and Alison!

7) A father of one of my former students, whose sister I also know because I taught her daughter, passed away this weekend suddenly from complication due to diabetes. His funeral is tomorrow, but I'll be working while the whole family I work for attends... and that's OK.

8) Trying to plan a big fundraiser for our SPACE teams.... silent auction.... abiding by our church guidelines, which basically do not allow us to advertise or ask in church in any way (up front, bulletin, or on a website) for donations.... have actually gotten to the point of considering making spaghetti and meatball hats for everyone to wear to church to get a little attention. That's not too obvious, is it?

9) 4,000 deaths in Iraq.... what do I think of that?

and, finally, what has kept me alert and awake most often:

10) Amazingly, this week each of my Bible studies and books I'm reading and sermon on Sunday all have to do with faith. In girls grace adventures we even talked about the Shield of Faith today. What does this mean?

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Now, maybe I can get some sleep.

The Grandchildren

I should have posted this in my dad's letter...

Happy Belated Easter!

Sorry it's a day late... but Happy Easter! The girls and I (T joined us on Friday) enjoyed our spring break in Connecticut. It was so nice to have a breather interjected into our lives of school, kid activities, kid sickness and missions trip planning. We had a great time with my mom, brother and sister-in-law and now.... we're baaaack!

I can't really think of one thing that stands out or one thing I should mention other than it was exactly what the doctor ordered. We DID have fun subjecting our CT relatives to taking the Myers Briggs and we also completed that assessment for my dad (postmortem) and it was exactly as I'd envisioned.... my brother and my father are one in the same! Other than the fact that, amazingly, my brother came out as an extrovert and my dad was clearly an introvert. I wasn't that far off from either of them, which brings me to my possible conclusion for my most recent MB change.

I've always been borderline S/N - sensing as opposed to intuitive. I've considered myself an S, as my dad was, but more recently have noticed I'm more of an N, and the description for that INTJ sounds way more like me. I was just wondering if, without my dad around to influence me - and he was a HUGE influence on me - if I'm able to let that N shine through more, since I don't have to seek his approval for anything! Just an observation, I have no idea if that's even possible.

OK - back to the real world. On Sunday in church, Pastor Dave made a statement that made me think a bit. It's from a verse that I have heard often:

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

He was speaking of things eternal, but mentioned the oxymoron it is to fix our eyes on something we can't see. We can only do that if we see things through the eyes of Christ. I'd never thought of that, but it's been swimming around in my head.

I'm so thankful that Christ conquered death, it doesn't even bother me when people think I'm crazy for believing. I think people are crazy not to believe, not to hope in something eternal. I want to be fixed on things unseen.

La Boutique de Mon Amie

Last week I stopped in at my cousin's new boutique in Old Ellicott City. It's the most adorable little shop. She and her friend have been working on this place for months and their grand opening is this weekend. If you are going to be around for Easter, you should stop in. The have a serious range of jewelry, gifts and home goods, all price ranges and quality. I picked up a cute purse for $29, an adorable watch for $9 and some linen home spray for $5. They offer purses, fine jewelry, home scents, scarves, furniture.... and the shop is adorable. It's situated in the "Tongue Row" area off the public parking lot and is sandwiched in between a great food/gift shop and a jewelry repair shop. They have three floors packed with everything a woman could want. Great for gifts or even for yourself! ;-) And just like my cousin, it's perfect!

Register this weekend if you visit to win diamond earrings (a favorite of my cousin's)!

Who Am I?

Over the past few months, I've been somewhat contemplating my Meyer-Briggs Assessment. For most of my adult life, I've always tested as an ISTJ and for the most part have been that. But more recently, I can see that I'm not nearly as disciplined or refined as most ISTJ's I know. In my assessment, I'm totally an I, totally a J and mostly a T. My S/N is completely borderline, and I think I may have somewhere over the past couple of years crossed over to an N. Here's a little description of both:

The Portait of the Inspector (ISTJ)

Inspector Guardians look carefully and thoroughly at the people and institutions around them. Making up perhaps as much as ten percent of the general population, Inspectors are characterized by decisiveness in practical affairs, are the guardians of institutions, and if only one adjective could be selected, "superdependable" would best describe them. Whether at home or at work, Inspectors are nothing if not dependable, particularly when it comes to examining the people and products they are responsible for-quietly seeing to it that uniform quality is maintained, and that those around them uphold certain standards of attitude and conduct.

These quiet, no-nonsense Guardians have a distaste for and distrust of fanciness in speech, dress, and living space. Their words tend to be simple and down-to-earth, not showy or high-flown; their clothes are often homespun and conservative rather than of the latest fashion; and their home and work environments are usually neat, orderly, and traditional, rather than up-to-date or luxurious. In their choice of personal property (cars, furnishings, jewelry, and so on) price and durability are just as important as comfort or appearance. Classics, antiques, and heirlooms are especially valued, having achieved a certain time-honored status-Inspectors prefer the old-fashioned to the newfangled every time. Even on vacation, Inspectors tend not to be attracted by exotic foods, beverages, or locales.

Their thoroughness and orderliness, combined with their interest in legality and standardization, leads Inspectors to a number of occupations that call for the careful administration of goods and services. Inspectors feel right at home with difficult, detailed forms and columns of figures, and thus they make excellent bank examiners, auditors, accountants, and tax attorneys. Managing investments in securities is likely to interest this type, particularly investments in municipal bonds and blue-chip securities. Inspectors are not likely to take chances either with their own or others' money, and the thought of a bankrupt nation, state, institution, or family gives them more than a little uneasiness. The idea of dishonoring a contract also bothers an Inspector -their word is their bond-and they naturally communicate a message of trustworthiness and stability, which can make them successful in business. With their eye for detail, Inspectors make good business men and women, librarians, dentists, optometrists, legal secretaries, and law researchers. High school and college teachers of business administration, home economics, physical education, civics, and history tend to be Inspectors, as do quartermaster officers in the military.

Queen Elizabeth II, Harry S. Truman, Warren Buffet, Queen Victoria, James K. Polk,
and J.D. Rockefeller are examples of Inspector Guardians.

Here is the INTJ:

The Portait of the Mastermind (INTJ)

Of the four aspects of strategic analysis and definition, it is the contingency planning or entailment organizing role that reaches the highest development in Masterminds. Entailing or contingency planning is not an informative activity, rather it is a directive one in which the planner tells others what to do and in what order to do it. As the organizing capabilities the Masterminds increase so does their inclination to take charge of whatever is going on.

It is in their abilities that Masterminds differ from the other Rationals, while in most of their attitudes they are just like the others. However there is one attitude that sets them apart from other Rationals: they tend to be much more self-confident than the rest, having, for obscure reasons, developed a very strong will. They are rather rare, comprising no more than, say, one percent of the population. Being very judicious, decisions come naturally to them; indeed, they can hardly rest until they have things settled, decided, and set. They are the people who are able to formulate coherent and comprehensive contingency plans, hence contingency organizers or "entailers."

Masterminds will adopt ideas only if they are useful, which is to say if they work efficiently toward accomplishing the Mastermind's well-defined goals. Natural leaders, Masterminds are not at all eager to take command of projects or groups, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once in charge, however, Masterminds are the supreme pragmatists, seeing reality as a crucible for refining their strategies for goal-directed action. In a sense, Masterminds approach reality as they would a giant chess board, always seeking strategies that have a high payoff, and always devising contingency plans in case of error or adversity. To the Mastermind, organizational structure and operational procedures are never arbitrary, never set in concrete, but are quite malleable and can be changed, improved, streamlined. In their drive for efficient action, Masterminds are the most open-minded of all the types. No idea is too far-fetched to be entertained-if it is useful. Masterminds are natural brainstormers, always open to new concepts and, in fact, aggressively seeking them. They are also alert to the consequences of applying new ideas or positions. Theories which cannot be made to work are quickly discarded by the Masterminds. On the other hand, Masterminds can be quite ruthless in implementing effective ideas, seldom counting personal cost in terms of time and energy.

Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Dwight D. Eisenhower, General Ulysses S. Grant, Frideriche Nietsche, Niels Bohr, Peter the Great, Stephen Hawking, John Maynard Keynes, Lise Meitner", Ayn Rand and Sir Isaac Newton are examples of Rational Masterminds.

It's a little crazy that one letter can make such a big difference, but I feel like I'm not strongly either, but may have made the shift. Either way, I'm just plain crazy. There's no if's, and's or but's about it. I've highlighted in each what I'm most like. If you think I'm wrong, have at it! Sometimes, I scare myself.

(Both descriptions can be found at www.Keirsey.com)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

My mother always told me I should wear orange on St. Patrick's Day because I'm Scottish. I like orange, but green is my favorite color. I have no problem finding something clean that's green in my laundry, so today I'm wearing green!! Plus, I'm really in the mood for spring, so green is a color I'm happy to wear!

The girls just made me a "gourmet" lunch. They set the table and made a fruit salad consisting of grapes, apple and carrots, peanut butter sandwiches, mini Pringles, cheese curls and a dessert of rice krispy treats. This is what happens when we run out of food! Hehe... but it was fun. They cleaned up the kitchen - and that's all that really matters!!

OK - off to pick up Kt's meds, the dogs, and get some laundry done so we can head up to Connecticut tomorrow for the rest of our spring break. Once there, I'm just going to relax!

Retreat Recap

This past weekend, we had the joy of hanging out on our spring high school retreat. It's hard for me to fathom that my own last high school retreat was 20 years ago!! Our kids stay at this really cool retreat place on the North Chesapeake Bay, complete with a high ropes course, climbing walls, gym, plenty of space, nice rooms, great food.... it was amazing! T and I and the girls stayed in a hotel like dorm - the girls even had their own room.

As we roamed around on an incredibly beautiful day yesterday, so many juxta posed thoughts went through my head. I'm sad to see some of our favorite seniors head off to college soon, but so excited for where they are headed. I'm so scared to send these kids into the world, yet so hopeful for the future because of them. Their silliness makes me roll my eyes, their enormous amount of potential to impact the world for Christ overwhelms me. I'm just amazed that they let us into their world, I'm honored.

I wish that I could share more than just a glimpse with you of just how important they are to us. What high schoolers do you know - more than 150 - who would embrace a group of leaders in their 30's? I mean embrace, encourage, thank, love... in a way that makes me feel like I'm just inadequate as a friend! We are so blessed year after year with a group of kids like this.

Twenty years after high school there are so many things I would have loved to have shared with them, but it was their weekend, their youth, their time to process life at their level. T did a session with them on creating, embracing, possibility and then creating. We spent a lot of last week talking through his session, thinking of worthwhile things to share, trying to shape something that would resonate with teenagers. It was really a message from T's heart, to speak into the hearts of kids that in our life here on earth, we matter and we make a difference. These are the kids who have the influence to shape culture.

One of our senior interns chose to get baptized on this trip, in the frigidly cold bay. It was really an amazing event and the people who shared about her and her impact on their worlds really speaks to the quality of kids we are launching out to the world. As she came up out of the water, I was imagining that the ripples she created were much like the ripples she will create in the world, the reach she will have because she's totally sold out, engaging and applying all that we've invested in her. More importantly, all that Christ means to her - and she's taking it with her into the world. It's some great imagery and some incredible energy.

So, to the kids in cpr who even bother to read the blog of a 30 something leader's wife, just know that we don't consider any of our time spent with you or given to you a sacrifice. It's more than an honor and our pleasure that you allow us to influence you in even small ways, that you are interested in being invested in, and the hope that you give us creates an unspeakable joy in our hearts. We do it for Him, and we think you get that. What we give to you does not even compare to what we've received - you've touched our hearts forever and we're happy that you keep us at least a little young!! Just know that God uses you in our lives and we thank you for your authenticity in His name.


thanks!

Sick World

While we're on the subject of sick.... are we now glorifying the call girl/prostitute that took down New York's governor??? I'm just completely appalled that she's all over the news, getting the press she wants, all while that family is falling apart. Have some decency, news outlets, and give that mom and three daughters whose lives were just torn apart a break!! Oh, for shame!

Sick Sandwich

No, I'm not planning on getting you sick before lunch! Just a brief recap of my week... Monday - sick child, Tuesday - work, Wednesday - sub, Thursday - work, Friday - sick child. My week is a sick sandwich. Now I'm off to shower and take care of a child with a cold all day!

Suing Proponents of Global Warming

So, the founder of the Weather Channel is proposing a law suit to sue proponents, such as Al Gore, about global warming. Apparently, these proponents are unwilling to enter into a debate about the existence of global warming, instead "scamming" the world into literally buying into their theory of global warming. I think he has a valid point here and I'll be following this story.

In essence, the global warming propaganda may have a very negative impact on the environment should it be proven to be wrong. That GW proponents have been very strong in their criticism of environmental issues, all in the name of an unproven theory. The sad thing is that many of their suggestions would have a positive environmental impact and should not be discarded. But should they be proven wrong, especially in a high profile court suit, the impact could be devastating for them and their suggestions, which may be discarded after a heavy hit.

Really, without the global warming scare tactic, we really do need to be better stewards of God's creation, looking for alternative forms of energy, reducing waste, and being more aware of the impact humankind has on nature. We owe it to ourselves, but more importantly to our children, to do all those things and more. We need to be forward thinkers when it comes to environmental impact. Global warming aside, Al Gore gone, what can we do to improve life on earth for future generations?

Passover/Easter....

So... I've been having a problem with this Passover and Easter not coinciding this year. I don't understand all the intricacies of how they "choose" when certain holidays will fall, but these two are supposed to happen together in my mind. At least they did in the Bible, with great historical and religious significance.

Passover is the Jewish holiday where the Jews in Egypt painted the blood of Passover lamb over their doorposts so that the Angel of Death would passover their homes when he came through the land to take the firstborn, the tenth plague. After that plague, when all the Egyptians woke up to find their firstborn sons dead, the pharaoh let the Israelites leave Egypt - he freed them.

The very first Easter, Jesus entered Jerusalem on what Christians call Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday before Easter. He was arriving for the Passover festival, which lasts a week. His Last Supper was a Passover Feast and he rose from the dead, or conquered the Angel of Death, on the last day of Passover.... no coincidence there. It was planned that way by God, although I'm not sure that modern Jewish culture recognizes the significance of the two events happening exactly the way they did.

So, back to 2008... just doesn't seem right to me! Easter with no Passover!

Mathematical Mess!

I have a difficult time with panel findings that suggest that we, in the US, "typically cover too many topics without enough depth." They discovered this after researching why our *test scores* are so much lower than over countries around the world. Well, let me help you out, oh wise panel. Why do we teach soooo many topics without any depth??? Because we give *standardized tests* to see how our students are doing compared with the rest of the world in March/April.... and those tests covers a *wide range* of topics that teachers are told to cover before the *test* so that kids will do better on the *test*. We aren't teaching kids math, we're teaching them how to do better on a *standardized test* - THAT'S WHY WE ARE FALLING BEHIND!!!!! Just had to get that out!!

Have Learned Nothing!

I feel, in a way, that I'm back to square one here. With everything I have on my plate and my attempts this year to simplify and say "no" to more things, I found myself just not able to function with MBS at 7:30 this morning. For those of you who don't know, that's just way too early for me! I was sound asleep, awoken abruptly by a call for help. Those are the kinds I just can't seem to decline.

To make matters even worse, my husband, also sound asleep, even though his alarm had already gone off, didn't bother to lie for me. I guess under any other circumstances I would have preferred he not lie, but this time I really needed him to tell this person that I was not here - I mean, they would believe that, right?? OK, I'm stretching a bit!

Anyway, I had plans for today - gym, laundry, visit my cousin's new boutique (more on that later!), sign Kt up for tennis camp, pick up more essential groceries, clean up a bit around here..... instead, I ended up subbing for mother's day out. Why? Because when she said, "Are you free to sub today? I'm in a bind." I could not for the life of me think of one good reason I could not sub. At least not one that would mean anything to anyone, and I just couldn't lie. I'm, what my husband so lovingly refers to me as, a sucker.

So, my day just added to my mushy brain... morning/early afternoon spent with 2 year olds, direct flight from there to new boutique, home for a 25 minute break before the girls got home, homework, gymnastics, 15 minutes for dinner, off to Girls Grace Adventure.... home to again sit around comatose, brain dead and wondering how I'll get everything done, now that I have to work tomorrow.

Well, at least the boutique was fun, fun, fun!!

Back to that Mush...

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because T is doing all this Strengthfinders stuff. One of my strengths is responsibility, and right now that one is really leading me down the path to a major coronary! I just hate it when things are left unresolved. Whether it be something someone did without explanation, a task I'm responsible for that cannot be resolved right this minute or something I just have no control over yet feel attached to for some reason. I turn to mush when too many things I'm responsible for are hanging in the balance. It's a monster of my own creation and it seems a life I'm destined for!! Now I just have to go back and read through all that responsibility stuff in that book to find out how to get out of this mush!

M.B.S.

I started this post about 5 minutes ago... just as a message flashed up on screen: "There are other people logged onto this computer. Are you sure you want to shut down?" Then, black screen. I was thinking to myself, "What just happened??" as I realized my chair was depressing the power button..... therefore, proving once again that I do, in fact, suffer from Mushy Brain Syndrome!

This happens to me 1) when things that don't normally happen happen (like Em staying home from school yesterday, knocking off my whole weekly schedule, and T forgetting to cancel our babysitter so we were completely dumbfounded when someone entered our house during dinner last night!), 2) when I have too many things going on at one (sick kids, messed up travel plans, work, Girls Grace Adventure, interviews this week for the new Children's Ministry director, going on retreat, going to CT for spring break, neighbors complaining to me about my child who is doorbell ditching!), and 3) when I realize that I'm getting older and I just can't hold everything up in my head as well as I used to!

Today, after spending last night trying to figure what to do about Vienna, for the 4th night in a row!, I went off to work. I could barely wake up this morning and never once thought I might be forgetting anything!! It wasn't until T was telling me about his day and his meeting at church that something foggy started to appear in my mushy brain. He said something like, "I showed up at church at the same time all these Connections women were leaving....." and it hit me. I read through my chapter last night, finished up my questions and was all set to go to that this morning... just like I do every Tuesday morning. What shocked me was that I did not even once, until he said, even think about Connections, or the fact that it was Tuesday. I made it to work, so I must have known.... but I have no idea why the other commitment never registered.

I'm officially mush.

HELP!

It's been almost a week now of researching, calling, bugged out eyes looking for a place for a group of 26 to stay in Vienna for cheap!! Most of the hostiles we've called won't help us, hotels are outrageously expensive and we are beginning to think we're running out of options. It's difficult to believe that we can't find even one reasonably priced place to stay in Vienna. Except that the dollar has taken a huge dive and we just can't swim against that current anymore. Pray for us!

Murphy's Law

I was rearing to go this morning... Had my bathing suit ready to go for some pool time. Then, late last night (or early this morning?) Em threw up. I had visions instantly of days home, everyone getting sick, missing a week of school, the gym... Kt also woke up with a sore throat and swollen tonsils again. Note to self: don't dwell ever again on the thought that your family has remained healthy while the stomach flu and regular flu are raging through every other family you know!!

Anyway, I'm hoping for the best! Maybe a false alarm? Em has been fine since she was sick. She just finished breakfast, and while I'm keeping her home today we are wondering if the sour cream she ate last night with our take out Mexican food was bad. She was the only one who ate it, and from all the descriptions of the strain of stomach flu going around now, she definitely doesn't fit that bill.

Kt went off to school, albeit unwillingly. Not because of her throat, but just because she's in that "if we're a free country, why should I have to go to school" stage. It's getting a little old around here. I completed my diatribe on how because we're a free country you GET to go to school (all parents must do this!) and sent her on her way.

Here I am, sitting around all day with my "sick" Bindi. I was laughing yesterday because her "lizzie" - the purple gummy lizard - is now taped in the middle and apparently has been stuck to her ceiling twice now!! That's no way to treat a venemous lizard! LOL At least she still uses her gloves! ;-)

To Hungary and Beyond!

Always an adventure - actually putting our plan into action... and asking fellow laborers for some support! Here is the support letter... Yup, we're crazy. and we know it! ;-) You're invited to join us~

Make sure you put in your supporter's letter that you blessed many families in immeasurable ways. Let them know that your team invested not only their time and resources, but their whole hearts to serve the families of Christian Associates. We are so grateful for all that your supporters have given so that we could be blessed!

~MR, serving in France

Dear friends, family, faithful supporters and anyone else who is receiving this!

It has been nearly a year since we initiated realizing a dream of ours – to serve Christ together as a family in some capacity outside of the US, our comfort zone. Many of you, I’m sure, remember receiving our letter last year, maybe wondering if we were out of our minds! If that’s what you were thinking, you may wonder again as we are hoping to return this year in the same capacity as last only with the added responsibility of being the sole team in charge of providing a full fledged children’s program for this amazing group of church planters in Europe.

Our trip last year was a growing and learning experience in so many ways. We had opportunities to connect with families who had given up their comfy homes in the US to serve in some of the most spiritually darkened places in Europe. We learned of the struggles they had adjusting to new cultures, languages, and the obvious disdain for America amidst the Iraq war. But even more apparent to us was the effect this had on their children, referred to as third culture kids, as they try to comprehend the passion their parents have for the lost in Europe as that relates to their roots, their socialization and their futures. Providing a short escape from the often stressful and uncertain lives of church planters was so much more important, and took so many various forms, than any of us had realized.

This summer, as part of SPACE [Students Prepared to Act for Christ’s Empire] - Grace’s student ministry mission component, we are returning to serve in Sopron, Hungary during Christian Associates International [www.christianassociates.org] annual staff conference. We will be traveling from July 22 to August 3 with a total team of 26 students and leaders, architecting an experience for the kids of CAI staff. While the opportunity to serve CAI and their kids is immensely rewarding, we also know that this environment is a real time laboratory for our students to learn about global cultures, leadership development and creating Kindgom threads out of nothing.

Of course, we can’t do this all alone and we would love your prayers and financial support. You can pray for our leadership, that the students on our team would create the future and that our children would continue to live lives bigger than themselves. You could also pray for our other SPACE teams for this summer – Baltimore, New Orleans, England and Cameroon. Financially, we need to raise $10,000 for our family of four and your financial support would also be a huge blessing. There are two ways you can financially support our team. First, you may send a check in the enclosed envelope with the response card. Please make checks payable to Grace Community Church and in the note section please specify, "SPACE Hungary - Shengs". You may also contribute via the Internet, by clicking the "Online Giving!" link at the top of the Grace Church webpage - http://www.gcconline.org. Click the "eGive" link and after entering the appropriate donor and bank information, fill in the amount for "Short Term Missions" and specify for "SPACE Hungary - Shengs".

Thank you so much for your support and prayers. We have huge expectations for this team traveling to Hungary with us – that they will serve and sacrifice for many this summer and that the spiritual climate of Europe will be different because of many of them.

I don't know if y'all realize just how much you give to us in coming to serve. Our first year, we were beaten down, discouraged, frustrated, humbled and broken. We were also grown, stretched, challenged and provided for in ways we could never imagine. The gift you gave us was a chance to process this stuff for significant periods of time, knowing our kids were entertained, safe and above all LOVED. It's hard to express how much the week at conference means to us-how much we look forward to it each year. Knowing that there are people there who believe in what we are doing and are willing to encourage us in that is amazing. THANK YOU!!!!!

~MR

~The Shengs

Hungary 2008

P.S.

Oh, and daddy. One more thing. Do you remember your last words to me.... "Keep yourself busy." I've been working on that. T was in the middle of taking the class Perspectives on the World Christian Movement when you died, and from that was birthed an idea that God has blessed year after year. He has spent the last 5 years developing missionally minded high school leaders, taking them on cross cultural missions trips and launching them into the world with a more globalized view of God's intent for all the nations of the world. We call it SPACE, or Students Prepared to Act for Christ's Empire.

After several years of him taking groups out of the country each summer, we finally realized our own dream of exposing your granddaughters to another culture outside of the US. We took them to serve a church planting missions organization and they met tons of missionary kids and families from all over Europe. They are both THRILLED to go back this year, although Kt's heart is really leaning towards that old dream of hers... to go to Africa.

I just thought you might like to know what kind of legacy you've left here on earth. Your sister sent me your old freshman initiation beenie from Kings, and mommy begged me to throw that old thing away. I just kind find it in my heart to do that, because it reminds me of your commitment to follow Christ in whatever circumstances He led you into. Of your heart to serve others and your devotion to His body of believers. Eventually I'll have to give to mommy (you know how that is!), but for now I'm just so incredibly thankful that God gave me you as a dad.

Of course, I'm wishing right now that those streets of gold were shippable because we have quite a daunting task ahead, raising funds to take a whole family overseas. But right now, that beenie reminds me that God does bigger things than we could ever dream and our worries are all in vain. I know our task is larger than life right now, but eventually it's fruition will be realized, either this summer or in the years to come in Europe and beyond.

California Tortilla Warning!

We have one of these fast food Mexican joints in our area. We love their food, but we have this one problem - they cannot get a single "To Go" order correct! We've only had minor issues when we eat in, but when we take out, it's always a mess. Over Christmas break, my brother went there with 6 orders. Only two were correct when he got home! The rest were almost unrecognizable. A spinach burrito with steak on it, chicken tacos with no meat and the best - a children's quesadilla with no queso!! Yup, that's right - they melted two tortillas together with no cheese in between! In fact, there was nothing to speak of in the middle. I wonder how they stayed together!!

T went out tonight to bring us home some California Tortilla, and Kt even told him to make sure her quesadilla had cheese in it. He managed to check that, but not our combination chicken/steak fajitas with no chicken. I sent him back for my chicken because... well, he should have known!! Please, CT, pay more attention to your take out orders!! Or we'll have to resort to Taco Bell!

Bindi

Em and I watched the wildlife show by Bindi Erwin last night - you know, the crocodile hunter's daughter. It's right up Em's alley! She couldn't stop watching, was totally drawn in and now.... she IS Bindi... She just came into the office here asking me if I wanted to meet "lizzie". She proceeded to sit down, and while taking out some old gloves from her fanny pack informed me that she needed gloves because lizzy is venemous. After putting on her gloves, she pulled out a purple gummy lizard. She is in her element!

I Want to Take That Class!

Looks like Tony Blair will be moving to my beautiful Connecticut, spending days teaching right down the street from my brother! The Prime Minister is heading to Yale New Haven to lead seminars on faith and globalization. Wow. I'm impressed. Of course, what dad would turn down an offer to teach at his child's school??

NightLight

I have a friend whose husband works for the State Department and they are serving right now in Bangkok. I'm always excited to receive her emails with pictures of their travels, their three little girls and also news from their church they are involved in over there. In many ways, their job has afforded them a witness in a foreign land where few would choose to serve, and many families have chosen to use their time in Thailand to make a difference.

My friend has been involved in a ministry of their church, NightLight, which attempts to save women and children from forced slavery. It's an incredible ministry and their efforts have proven very fruitful. This particular cause has received a lot of attention lately, but not nearly enough I'm afraid. Human trafficking is a huge industry and it's practiced all over the world, including in the U.S.

If you have a chance, browse their website - the jewelry is beautiful! Finding profitable alternatives and lifetime trades for the women they save is a priority if they are going to make a difference. Here's an excerpt from their newsletter:

We have been limiting the number of women coming to work at NightLight since the end of last year. One woman who applied for work was on our waiting list. Mid-February she came to us again. This time she got down on her knees begging us for a job. She said she just couldn't handle working at the bar anymore. Although we had tried to hold off new employees we just couldn't turn her down. We accepted her in spite of our limitations. Last week this woman chose to give her life to Christ. Once again God has demonstrated His sovereignty. God brings the women to us. They come for a decent job; they find life. We feel limited in space, in resources, in sufficient work and finances but God promises abundant life and He always keeps His word. He will provide. His heart breaks for the women ready for new life and waiting in the shadows. Sometimes we are slow in responding but God in His mercy acts to save.

Pray for that ministry, if you feel led, and the many others around the world who are dedicated to ending human trafficking.

Civility

noun

• formal or perfunctory politeness
• politeness: the act of showing regard for others
  

For a couple years now, the county we live in has been touting this "Choose Civility" campaign. I'm not really sure the origin or even the purpose, but many people received these dark green bumper stickers that they proudly display on their cars with that slogan. They make me laugh, or more appropriately snicker, because OBVIOUSLY they've either forgotten that they are wearing them or they have no idea what it means!! Here are some of the things that come to mind when I see one of these bumper stickers:

~ Choose to Drive Without a Cellphone Attached to Your Ear

~ Choose to Practice Civility Instead of Expecting Others to Show it to Undeserving You!

~ Choose Intelligence Instead of Wreckless Driving

~ Choose the Lane of Traffic Which Most Appropriately Suits Your Driving Skills (or Lack Thereof!)

~ Choose to Take Yourself Off the Road Should You Choose Not to Obey Basic Traffic Laws

~ Choose to Signal the Direction You are Going So As to Avoid Being Shown Uncivil Hand Gestures

~ Choose to Not Display a Bumper Sticker That Has Absolutely No Meaning to You Whatsoever

Have I covered everything? Need I explain further?? I didn't think so!!

Day of Allergy Reckoning

We FINALLY took Kt for allergy testing so now we can say with confirmation that our daughter is allergic to cockroaches!! Good thing I haven't seen any around our house.... I have, however, seen a lot of dust, and apparently that is a huge problem for her. Here's the ranking:

1. Dust mites - testing more positive than the "positive"

2. Cats - which we could have guessed!

3. Mold - after 2 ER from mold exposure, I could have bet on that one!

4. Soy - which might explain why she got sick when we tried soy formula when she was a baby!

5. Raw egg - another that came to our attention this past year, fortunately, it's just a topical allergy, nothing to change a diet over!

6. Cockroaches - why do they even test for those?? Weird!

7. Dogs - not as bad as cats, but those hives she gets when the dogs come home from the kennel are telltale!

She had this test about 6 hours ago and her dust mite test is the size of a huge welt. She also had another spot on her arm that she said did not become bad until she got to school. I have no idea what that one was for and they didn't tell her the ones that tested negative. I guess we'll never know!

The doctor recommended getting rid of carpet - anyone have $30,000 for us to get some wood floors? I didn't think so! We will likely purchase the wrap for her mattress and pillow. It's the least we can do - LOL. The funny thing is that since we moved to this house I thought she was outgrowing the asthma. I guess this house is just a little less dusty? Sure doesn't seem that way, but I'm glad for her.

I guess someday we'll all have to get some allergy testing done!

So Hard

Em said this to me tonight: You know what is just so hard? Trying to keep your eyes closed all night long!

Future insomniac on our hands I imagine!

Is It for Real?

I will admit that I'm a total skeptic when it comes to global warming. Partly because I don't trust Al Gore one iota! But mostly because it just doesn't seem to be happening the way everyone predicted. I'm also not sure it's going to be quite as devastating as we keep being warned... and it's so darn expensive to "fix" it - which I don't really believe we can do anyway. Of course, articles like this one just cement my skepticism. What say you, Al Gore? I mean, because he's such a scientist and all. Even invented the internet! ;-)