Back from VA!

Sweet! I had a great time!
So I didn't get much more then one chapter red in Ted Dekker's Black, and really only sat out just to sit in the sun a couple different times, but so what?!

We met Chris & Tina Saturday for a birthday get-together.
Then went to the house we'd be staying at till Wednesday morning and unpacked our bags (they have an awesome house, with three extra bed rooms and a beautiful yard! Not to mention the other usual rooms in a house, all super-sized! Nice!)

Sunday we went to New Life Church (I think that's it's title) and attended the café-church service in the gymnasium part. Chris played the drums and Tina led the service (the introductions & announcements). Then we went out for lunch, lollygagged around a couple of stores before Chris & Tina had to leave then we went back to the house for a bit. After a bit, we went back tot he church for the Guatamala Missions Team Send-Off Service and then went out with Chris again -- to distract him -- till we went to the house of a friend of Tina's for...guess what? We walked in the door and everyone jumped and screamed! It was a surprise birthday party for Chris, and he never saw it coming! Their friend had made an awesome cake -- think she takes after Deb a bit! LOL -- and we hung out and celebrated for quit a while! It was fun seeing everyone again -- I'd met them before at and during Chris & Tina's wedding related events.

Monday we just hung out mostly at the house. (that's when I got my hot hour in the sun out on the lovely porch out back). I tried getting a hold of a college friend of mine who lives down there, too, but her phone wasn't working (I hadn't tried to get a hold of her before, because ironically she had been up here in NY for the weekend). I think I managed to get a chapter of Black red, while in the sun too, but then decided it might be easier to tan in that hot sun if I just went half-asleep (then I wouldn't notice how hot I was or how hot the black book felt in my arms, either)...Christopher came over after work and then we went to the mall and saw the movie GI: Joe. It wasn't what I expected, but it was deffinately not bad, either.

Thankfully, there is such a thing as facebook and my friend Sooki & I were finally able to connect between that night and Tuesday. So, of course, on Tuesday that's what I did. Fred, Deb, & Weesy met up with Christopher at the mall for his lunch break, meanwhile Sooki met me at the house and we followed Fred to the mall where we proceded to wodnerfully-waste a few hours in a long over-due talk...and whatever else friends do when they get together! The blessed thing about our friendship: no matter how long it's been and how much catching up we've got to do in a little time, it always is not only worth it, but oddly feels like we never really parted! (At least for me). Plus I got to hang out with her delightful little girl, Rianna. I can't say what we talked about, not even sure we ever really ever finished whatever new topic we would intergect and start on, but we had an awesome time! Ate in the food court, from Wendy's, and just walked and talked through the mall till it was time for her to head back home. It was about then that Fred & Deb called me on my cell to see if they should swing by and get me then or wait another hour or two (they were in the area) so I hooked back up with them. Later, in the evening, we hit the beach with Christopher in tow -- he finished work about then -- and had a delightful last day before taking the long drive back home in the morning.

Sadly, my cell phone decided to die in the middle of the night and I didn't think to put it onthe charger before we left for the long drive home. Also, my laptop got packed away the night before. Regardless of my momentary laps of technology for a whole day in the USA -- some reason ti's fine in another country, but here, I'm like "what do I do?" -- I lived just fine and we made it home safely...at like 1am; that's why I waited another day to write.

For the record...

I'm not my sisters...interesting thought, eh?

Seriously, though, I have a hard time figuring out what to write lately. I know I don't write on here as much as I used to. I haven't written much in more journal, either. I think that's the main problem, when I ran out of things to say here, sometimes I copied stuff from my journal and all those random thoughts, but since all the writing my journal has received in the past few months had been four pages of private prayers and such, there isn't much for the copying either. Oi!

I've tried to figure out where my sisters get their inspiration and how it seems to always flow. Sometimes it seems they are just writing a momentary and fleeting thought, other times it's one of those weird things that I wouldn't think to write about -- like a blister on the toe -- that add a touch of "I'm here...taste my life with me" flair. Maybe I just need to get more weird and random, eh?

Well, regardless, on the bright side. I'm headed to Virginia Beach with Deb, Fred, and Weesy in a couple days so maybe -- if I remember -- I'll get some pictures and have something to write about soon...But mostly, I'm looking forward to the warmth & sun we've been missing here lately. Take a good Ted Dekker book and my laptop and maybe get some writing in if not reading (why has it been so hard for me to dive into a good book lately, anyway? I used to eat them for dinner! After all, they are my inspiration and without a bit of that I'm lacking in writing-my-book-ability too! Oi! what a mess I'm in!)

Ok, enough for now...write again soon...perhaps when I get back from the fun in VA!

The Wanderer's Adventure Continues: Virginia Times: Worship Monday Night

I finally got some pictures from the prayer meeting we had on Monday night, and I thought I would share them with y'all so you can see it. As you can see, the FOFs (Michelle, Emily, Tim, & I; see TEAM: Africa 2008) are back together again in VA. But we are joined by a bunch of new friends we met while there, and I would like you to "meet" some of them! However, I don't remember everyone's names, just the ones I've hung out with more since then (so bare with me if I don't mention everyone in the pictures!)

Above (L to R): David, Shannon, Dee, and Michelle Hartley...Don't you just love that stained glass window? Too bad there isn't a full picture of it!

Below is Paul playing guitar. He worships spontaneously, like Tim, and it's great!

Above is Faith, who is a great leader and friend with a heart of gold and solid after God!

Below, on the bench (L to R) is Dee, Michelle Hartley, and Me. On the floor curled up in a tiny ball is Shannon, then two guys, then Emily Ingole and Tim Wright...I would've been on the floor then too, but Em had just beat me to the last spot I could slide off a bench to.
Above is that row of worshipers on the floor again, but all of a like mind. Pretty cool picture, eh?

The Wanderer's Adventure Begins: Traveling South

So, Sunday I found out my friends, Emily & Michelle were headed to Virginia Beach to meet up with Tim Wright and hang out. Well I wanted to go too, not only to be with them but to see me long-time college friend "Sooki" too (I haven't seen her in a year and they have an adorable little girl now). But the plane tickets to meet them were out of my price range, and I felt at peace with God--if that makes any sense--so I just went to bed figuring God knew what I wanted and if He wanted it for me, He's work it out. After all, I have also been dying to go down to Lakeland, FL too, but that will have to come in His perfect timing too...

Anyway, I woke up early yesterday morning at what I jokingly call an "un-Godly hour in the morning" (I'm a night person). While laying in bed, feeling quite peaceful and having had one of the most restful nights of sleep in a while I thought briefly of VA. Then had an odd thought: "wasn't there someone I knew going down?" I tossed the thought aside, and then it persisted. And with a name: Christopher!

Now I don't know why I had not thought of it sooner, he had been with us for the weekend and was leaving to go home soon! So I jumped up, asked Aunt Deb if he was heading out today and going straight through. She said "Yes" and that he was leaving in an hour. Well, I juggled my cell phone trying to get a hold of my friends--make sure they were serious about me staying with them in the their hotel room, and see if maybe they could get me back home later--while packing exceptionally fast!

Then another thought hit me fast. A friend of mine, Erin, in Lisbon OH, had been begging me to come and stay with her and her family. Her mom (Erin's a younger friend) had said she would drive out and pick me up and take me back later. So I called them up quick to ask if I got a ride back up there later this week, if they would get me back to Olean next week sometime...I got another voice mail.

I finished packing, asked Chris for a ride and we left shortly afterward. Thankfully, Erin got back to me just before we left so I knew if Emily & Michelle would take me home with them when they returned to OH, they could get me to Erin's (who lives near Emily's parents) and sometime Erin's mom would get me back to Olean.

I've never done anything so spontaneous in my life! and I still had not got a hold of my friends who were in VA when we left! And we were near DC before they finally called and said it was fine with them! My response was "Well, I sure hope so, 'cuz I'm on my way already!"

So last night, Chris dropped me and my small bags off on the Regent Campus where I met up with my friends in the Library's Prayer room where I then met several more cool people and had an awesome time of prayer, praise, and fellowship well into the AM hours. Then we went to a restaurant and hung out longer. And now, I'm off to bed and a wonderful time with my friends in VA till late Thursday night when we leave for OH...

I'm finally traveling on the road, on my own, just like me dream! Like Aunt Deb said: "and you thought you needed a car to do that?"