Exactly *how* small is Oly now?!

I got a call from Kathleen (WA) this evening... as it turns out she was in PetCo this afternoon and saw my old science partner from hs working there. This is a rather strange turn of events; the last time I spoke with my lab partner, she was intending/preparing to move to Wales (this was roughly 6 years ago), but even stranger, is that Kathleen's call comes after weeks of this girl being on my mind and heart a lot. I wonder what she's been up to... how life has treated her. I don't expect her to remember me fondly, as we parted on questionable terms...but still, I wonder.

We were younger then, you and me, full of dreams, weren’t we?
I went my way, you went yours, where did you go, dear?
Someone said you had left the life we lived together then
This is my way of reaching out ‘cause I remember…

This is what I want to say to you
If I had one chance to speak to your heart
You are loved
More than you could ever know
This is what I want to say to you
If I had one chance to tell you something
You are loved
More than you can imagine
Imagine

If I told you would you believe, the narrow road, I did not leave
If I told you would you understand that I’ve found truth
Are you jaded? Are you hurting now? How I wish that I could tell
Where your heart’s at…can you see? Mine has found – home

Not sure if I’ve, made it clear enough
It’s not my love I sing about
Everybody asks, “Is God good?”
I believe, He is
In fact I know, He is
-Rebecca St. James

Be warned: Musings...

I'm back again; back to where I grew up, sitting at the same computer that I wrote my IB extended essay on and often stayed up all hours of the night chatting with friends over AIM. But this ain't home anymore.

That point was hammered into me pretty much as soon as I stepped off of the plane. One good friend is engaged. A large, though not unexpected, shock for me; I think I've made peace with it now. Also, my grandparents' place for 40 years is now a mini-neighborhood and there is concrete growing where the trees once stood tall [all. over. the. region.].

As much as 2006 was a year of being stripped down for me, I hope 2007 will be one of restoration and healing. Little things, like someone speaking in German or Russian to me, remind me of who/what I was before the accident and stand in contrast to who/what I am now. These days I cling to the hope of restoration; not a restoration of being exactly who/what I was again, but one of restoring God's image in me. It is as if, through the aftermath of the accident, I have an invitation to deal with/confront certain areas of sin in my life.

It's getting late here.

Later, yo.

Urbana06....

To begin with....

W-- the sign of Urbana/this generation: Whatever, Where ever, Whenever.

A fun pic of me at Urbana with other staff from around the country on the job...We were know, thanks to Jimmy Jao, as the "people with light-sabers." Very technical, indeed.

Ok, so I'm not so great at the updating thing...

Urbana was awesome! I'm not sure what made it so great, it could be several things, such as:
-God being very real, very present in it.
-That it wasn't/isn't so much about building up your faith or the experiencial stuff (such as getting a "God-high"), but about actually *doing* something with your faith...about not settling
-Standing on street corners around St. Louis very early in the morning and very late at night.
-the prayer ministry stuff and the people there
-going somewhere for a week and having all of my favorite people come with me too! (that was pretty amazing in and of itself!)
-mini-IV staff renuions at the airport at o'dark-thirty. :-)
-My room/hotel: Lynds, Colleen, Phyllis...this posh hotel 3 blocks from the convention center, with a great view of the arch and river and comfy beds!
-meeting MHC from '01 and '03
-NEW YEAR's!

or, it could be a combination of all of the above.

Small side note about New Years: typically, this is my least favorite holiday...but this year, its among my favorites. I spent it on a street corner, and at the beginning of the night was a little bummed about that (the other 22,200 people were inside the dome). But as the clock neared, and struck midnight, it became one of my favorite New Years... i was stationed on a 'new' block (not the location that i had spent the rest of the week at) and with a different partner. But there was a club on our block, blaring fun music and we could see the city's fireworks at midnight. I also had the joy of being hugged, high-fived, thanked, and hand-shook by a couple thousand delegates as they came from the dome and went safetly back to their hotels. AND of course, watchign the delegates dance to teh music as they walked down my block. That, in addition to the light-hearted atmosphere, was the best. The verdict?-- Sober, Christian Asian guys dance a whole heck of a lot better than drunk white guys. Girls grooved as they walked, but guys tended to stop and dance some.

I moved into the JR (MHC staff house, for those who are wondering) and it's beginning to feel more like home. Not that it didn't feel like home to begin with, but the level of "home feeling" has increased. It wasn't by any fancy powers or things, but rather the small things: like adding my tea stash to the tea drawer and my FD stuff to Jen's FD stuff and that to the house's FD stuff...you know, the little things. It'll feel even more like home when my pics arrive from WA (ahem, Dad....) and are on the walls and around my room.

A very belated, but nevertheless sincere, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!