I miss the rain so badly. I long for every aspect of it. Especially the sound.
This weekend was the HMS retreat. We started it off with some team building activities and going out for Thai food. The official list of places I am going are: Philippines, Thailand, and China. The Thai that we ate last night might have been the spiciest thing I have ever had, but it was still so good and a challenge to finish it all. We finished the night off by watching a documentary about Jim Elliott and his legacy in Ecuador.
Today we went out to lunch for Hong Kong style Dim Sum. Let me tell you it was an adventure. We had to eat duck and chicken feet, cow stomach (tripe, pictured above), and an entire fish... bones and all. The fish was the hardest for me but I plowed through. My team did so well at smiling as they ate the grossest stuff... They said it was the first year with no tears.
This afternoon we went on a giant scavenger hunt in an Asian grocery store with our teams
which ended by eating duck egg soup.
This retreat was such a wonderful bonding experience. The guest speaker taught us a lot about
character and brought us all together.
Tonight we watched the Packers game and now we are making cookies.
It has been awhile.
Ten things that make me terribly happy.
1. going to the movies.
2. home.
3. going out to eat.
4. my cowboy boots.
5. ummm gourmet coffee... even though I am trying to lay off...
6. when there is food in my fridge... which there is not.
7. rain.
8. driving.
9. being warm.
10. my camera.
In making my new year's resolution this year I chose something practical and attainable. I decided that I would not drink any drinks this year besides water or tea (unless something is forced upon me in Asia).
I forgot that this also excludes Starbucks drinks or gourmet coffee...
I have had like a million already.
I long for a time with no obligations looming. A time where I can finally read those books I bought long ago that are now collecting dust on my shelf. I want to spend my time with my nose in a book or listening to soft jazz in my car. I want to lay beside the water and have nothing better to do than listen to the waves.
I long for summer and endless time.
to follow the trend of a "year in review." A little late, I know. I am going to make this short.
2010 brought maybe the craziest year of my whole life.
I began the year by attending Sarah Lawrence College in NY. I left that summer thinking that I would be back at SLC at the start of the next semester.
I traveled to Haiti where I spent my whole summer with the most amazing people I know (I am not exaggerating)... It was there God changed my heart. He brought me health of the mind and heart and with that He brought direction. I think it is safe to say that all who interned at Mission of Hope the summer of 2010 were changed, for the better. It was so amazing to see God's divine appointments there with all of us. I am so thankful.
So in Haiti I felt God showing me not to return to NY or SLC. Instead, He led me to Canada. Weird, eh? I never thought in my whole life that something like that would happen. But I will follow if He leads. It was through a friend I met in Haiti that brought me to a missions program in Canada.
It has proved to be amazing. I mean, of course it is. I have made some really great friends and I have actually learned a ton. And I am traveling to Asia for two months in the Spring.
It is just amazing to look back on a year and see what God has done. I have been told "you lead the best life, it is so exciting." All I have to say is it is because I am following God any where He leads. And with that as my goal I know my life will never cease to be amazing.
After eating our fill of Pad Thai and painting our faces we got there just in time to see the opening act. Wayne Coyne traveled across the audience in a plastic bubble, among other things. It was a night of dressing up and dancing. The auditorium was filled with the smell of weed and since it was full of drunk hippies it gave us an excuse to dance like we wanted to, free of judgement. Naturally we waved our hands in the air and moved our bodies in time with the psychedelic music.
At the exact moment that the year changed from 2010 to 2011 I was running. Running, not thinking of how far this interesting, wonderful, and messy year has brought me, but running. We were running back stage to be the first to play in a pile of what must have been a thousands of giant balloons that were making their way to the crowd. As I ran and the seconds counted down until the ever-famous "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" I saw people kissing their significant others... or random people for that matter. I remember making it back stage and being engulfed in a sea or color.
Last night was probably the best New Years I have experienced in my whole life
thanks to the Flaming Lips and great friends.
These are the days of our youth, the days I am certain will someday cause nostalgia.
