The New Fish

This is my cousin Jeff and his new daughter, Taylor Ashlynn, born on Thursday night. Jeff and his wife Loida have been more like older siblings to me over the past couple of years. Our interactions are few and far between, but often very meaningful (at least to me). Praise God for the new little life in their house!!

A lot of randomness in my head today. Has anyone noticed how often I use the word random or a derivative of it? I bet it’s on this blog at least 30 times. There’s no logical way to order randomness which is why it is called random, but (as Tanya, George, and Neil would put it) the “J” in me wants to put some order to the mad chaos. Especially to that which occurs in depths (or shallows) of my mind.

Random bit # 1 – Does anyone out there watch Grey’s Anatomy? Holy buckets was it good last night!! I was fortunate enough to get my mom addicted to the show. During last night’s show, one particular doctor let a patient in on a big secret from her past just before commercial break. I was freaking out! And trying to call my mom. The call wouldn’t go through. WHY? Because SHE WAS CALLING ME!!! Fun times in the mother-daughter world.

Random bit # 2 – My dad is finally having his first stress test – six months later. Three reschedulings. At this very moment he is probably sitting in some doctor’s office awaiting the results. His heart attack was on August 13…Today is January 30. He has not smoked since that morning.

Random bit # 3 – I have to get a Hep A. vaccine for a job that I’m going to do for my church. YUCK! I hate shots.

Random bit # 4 – Emily has been in Wales for two weeks now and has yet to forget about me! Installment # 3 of her adventure will be posted shortly.

Random bit # 5 – A new friend introduced me to a coffee shop in south city this weekend. Not only did they provide a mocha very friendly to my taste buds, but they also had the indoor as well as location atmosphere that reminded me of being back at good ole’ Smokey Row. In fact, if they had an upstairs and exposed bricks walls, I probably could have thought I was at The Row. Only I didn’t know a single sole which would not be the case in P-town.

Random bit # 6 – I’m GOING TO SEE JAMIE CULLUM in March. Did you hear me? I’M GOING TO SEE JAMIE CULLUM!!!! I am sooooooo excited!!

Random bit # 7 – Today is the first Monday in a long time that I actually feel awake and good. Perhaps it’s because I gave myself more time to wake up. Perhaps it is because I was a little less social this weekend. Perhaps it is because I prayed on the way to work. Perhaps it is because I talked with my sister this morning as I was getting ready for work. Could it be a combination of them all? Whatever it may be, my spirit is definitely much higher than it usually is or has been the past couple of weeks. Give God the Glory for that! Te doy la gloria. Te doy la honra.

A loss of thought

I had something important that I wanted to blog about the other night, but then Neil stopped byand distracted me. Now I can't remember what it is that was so important. Speaking of Neil, he so graciously loaned me his Nikon camera so I went out on an artistic endeavor. Below are a couple of my favorites.

Emily's Adventure part 2

Have you ever seen one of those movies where afterwards you think, "Gee I really have no idea what just happened"? That would be pretty close to how my first week in Europe has been: a confusing collage of images and people talking that in the end just seems surreal.

My two days in London went by quickly. Vandon house is a short walk from Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park, and the nightlife of Victoria street. I didn't realize where any of these things were. I just sort of ran into them on a walk. I tip my hat to anyone who stands in awe of these places, especially Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately I'm not one of them. Buckingham Palace = Big square building woohoo.
It would have been alright if I could have tried on one of the guard's hats maybe, but I didnt think I wanted to look down the barrel of the police officer's gun to ask. Fortunately, St. James Park was right next to the palace and I had a nice little stroll through there. The best parts of the city are definately the parts that aren't on the map. The traffic signs offer loads of entertainment when you're least expecting it. During my shuttle ride I noticed a large "Slow Down NOW" - large emphasis on the giant now - sign that was neither behind nor followed by an actual speed. What the heck does that mean? Fortunately, pedestrians have it much easier. Even I could follow the painted "Look Left"s and "Look Right"s. Much more practical than whatever genius decided to build an ash tray into the door of the airplane bathrooms right underneath the no smoking signs.

All the kids on my program arrived with no worries. When we finally got to the school, it looked - historic I suppose would be a polite term for it :) But the insides of the buildings are nice, especially our dorm. My room is probably the same size as the German House rooms with the added bonus of a little window room on the side. We've been so many places this week. We visited a two castles and different towns. Yesterday - I saw the ocean WOOOHOOOO. I walked out with no shoes, but I'm pretty sure it was a little cold to be doing that. A guy on the program and I went down on these rocks on the coast to try and get a good picture and a wave came in and hit us from behind. Luckily the sun was out, so when we arrived back at school 4 hours later I was only slightly damp instead of dripping wet. We spent one day trying to get to know the town - which is actually quite large and sort of confusing. Emily Pim and I have been lost 3 times trying to come back to town. That's probably because we have never been back without getting lost. But we are getting EXTREMELY good at getting lost. My mom always told me to do what I do best...

Love and Good Times to you all
Emily

my sister is hilarious

My sister, Emily, left on Friday for a semester in Wales. She has this sarcastic way of writing that just makes you laugh, as you will soon read for yourself. The following is the e-mail she sent us after a couple of hours in London.

I'd like to give a reprieve to anyone who wants absolutely nothing to do with my goings-on while abroad through the madness that is mass emails. I know it wears the edges of a person's sanity from personal experience, but hey I sure as heck ain't gonna e-mail the same thing to this many people repeatedly. I'd like to tell you your message would be original, but I can't. Just know that you all hold a special place to me ... just like the others. (Better than copying and pasting over and over)

I arrived at my hotel without any major catastrophes, but being the walking disaster I am, I couldn't avoid the little ones. On the first part of my flight, I was searching in vain for a place for my carry on and im sure you can imagine the panic on my face. I know one lady did. She felt my pain so keenly she decided to inflict it on her husband. She wacked him on the top of the head with a rolled up newspaper and told him to get his *insert creative offensive word here - or if you work in a church camp, just think happy thoughts :P* out of the storage space so i could put my bag there. Trust me, no paper should make THAT kind of thwack.

In the terminal between flights, everything went smoothly until I happened to sit in the waiting area next to two ornery guys going overseas in the army. They took it upon themselves to threaten my chance at sleep for the next eight hours - i retaliated by threatening to throw at them what later revealed itself to be overcooked pasta. As luck would have it - they were in the same row as me ! Yikes! Instead of making good my threat, I carried on a 7 hour conversation with the lady next to me. When I got to heathrow, I put my baggage on one of the handy carts they had and was ready for anything. Well, anything except my wheel flying off, which it did and all of my luggage went flying. *look at the crazy girl on the floor woohoo*

Oddly, no one went through my luggage at customs. My passport was stamped and I got my luggage after and just went straight out. I kept thinking I had missed a spot and they would be running after me. Oh, well. On the ride over, I was the only one in the Hotelink bus and the man driving was very talkative. He wanted to know where in the states I was from and when I responded with "Missouri" He said oh yeah I know it - that's where the Ku Klux Klan is. How is the Klan these days..." WHAT? I assured him I didn't know any members personally nor had ever seen them, and he looked at me suspiciously and said I saw the pictures on the internet, they're there. It was sort of creepy. After that though he drove around a bit to show me some of the sights, which was nice of him and not unwelcome with the fare i payed to get to my hotel. It was a flat rate, so he wasn't trying to up his anty, but I didn't mind upping mine. We drove past Westminster and he said, "Oh, I have something to show you." and took a side street - actually i think all of the roads in London are side streets - to a building that had a long line of middle school and high school aged girls coming out of it. Apparently, today was the day of auditions for a new female role in Harry Potter. The line wrapped itself all the way around probably 40 blocks. Not just down them, it circled each one. It was insanity at its finest.

The rest of my day consisted of one activity - sleeping. I won't bore you with my dreams, feel free to insert one yourself if you must :) I'm off to explore now. We'll see how long that lasts.

My love and well wishes to you all

emily

a glimpse of my heart

Do you ever feel like you know so many people that it paralyzes you in a state of loneliness? People are all around you all of the time. They want you to hang out, to talk, to be in your presence...but all that you can do is retreat to room behind a closed door?

It's funny how life's situations mold our character. And even funny-er how much a more recent event can reshape us. There is this group of people from my church, mostly singles, that get together for lunch every Sunday after church. It's a great idea to promote togetherness and friendships. I support the concept completely. Except for the fact that I never go. The weird part about my absence is that last year at this time, I was one of the spearheaders of a similar Sunday lunch group. Why the change? Why, when church is over each Sunday, do I return to my empty apartment to do my own Sunday afternoon thing?

An even bigger question? Why is it that I am most comfortable spending time with married-with-children women? What is it about these women that makes me much more comfortable than the singles, twentysomething crowd? Why is it that I look forward to my new found Thursday night Stern family time so much more then the parties I get invited to on the weekends? (Anyone who knows the Sterns would say it's just because of how incredible they are, which is true, but not my point)

I have discovered that the mere beginning of an answer to my questions...all of them actually, is intimacy (platonic, that is) . When the ways of life are hard or even just the opposite..way good, I long to have just one or two, maybe three close friends (outside of my family) to call and share with. Instead I have to sit and think about who to call...which of the 700 people that I know??

This intimacy is definately present in a couple of friendships...unfortunately one is halfway across the country-permanently-and the other is in Iowa. I think my heart (and the rest of me) could truely benefit from a friendship just like those two, only with a person physically here in St. Louis. Is it okay to ask God for that? It doesn't matter, I'm going to anyway:)

The Year of Perfectness

I've been trying to write a new post on here for two days, and have been very unsuccessful! Writer's block or something. Maybe it is all of the miles I've put on my mind..or my car for that matter. I drove 837 miles this weekend-all by myself. Oh and last weekend too for Christmas with my family.

This weekend was the most fabulous way to ring in the new year. Two of my lovely friends from college had a New Year's Eve wedding. Not only was the wedding a beautiful celebration of theirlives and the new year, but it was also a huge reunion of Central alum (mostly from our class) who have since scattered across the US.

My dear friend from Chicago Semester, Adam, was at the wedding. It was fun to see his face again, not too mention catch up on life and reminicse about life in the big city. The second coolest moment of the night was watching my friend Steph practically maul Katie in order to catch the bouquet. It was totally in slow motion-Steph reached out with her hand in the air as the bouquet flew toward the mob of single women. Then she leaned forward over a shorter Katie, probably lost her balance a bit, and landed with her weight pushing Katie forward. It was quite the scene. ! The third coolest moment of the night was actually after the wedding. Adam was sprawled out on Steph's couch. Sherami and Steph were snuggled at separate ends of the other couch, and I was laying on the floor. It was 2:00 in the morning and we were trying to have "girl and Adam talk." However, the tiredness had overcome us so much that our eyes failed to open. Oh to be a fly on the wall in that room.

I spent the rest of my weekend in small town Wilton with the Rohde family. It was an absolutely wonderful way to spend my first weekend of 2006. If every weekend could look like that, I think it would be the perfect year. It's 837 miles round trip to do that. Eh, maybe I'll just shoot for a .500.