Keys day

Today was full of Keysiness. Chopping up palm frons (how do you spell that?) with a machete. Cutting coconut clusters out of palm trees. Bike ride to Bo & Brende's for fresh smoothies (complete with mango) and great stories. Leechees. Working on the sailboat (polishing railings was my job). Sushi with friends.

I am blessed. :)



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blast from the past

from my blog entry October 22, 2009:

”and i crave adventure. not adventure for adventure's sake. not for the "bragging rights" to boast to others about what crazy thing i did. i crave adventure that will push me to accomplish things i never thought i was capable of. i want to know -- (bracing myself - for i know i am inviting God to turn my life upside down) -- i want to know what it is like to truly live by faith in our GREAT God. to have to rely on Him to bring me thru. and to taste victory because of His strength in my weakness. i crave adventure that will push others to do the same. i crave adventure that will point others to our GREAT God.”

I was taking a stroll down blogging memory lane tonight and reading thru my posts in 2009 (apparently there were only 10 of them…I was hard core into blogging that year…ha).  I came across this and it stoked me – because over the past 6 or 7 months, I have experienced God do things in and thru me that I never thought was possible.  things that I look back on and think, “there’s no WAY I could have done that on my own”.

I think it’s funny I said “bracing myself – for I know I am inviting God to turn my life upside down” in that post because that’s exactly what He has been doing!  I feel like I’m finally living.  like – really living.

 

I remember when facebook first came out with the whole “status” thing – way back when it was first created and only college students could have it – and people would often put “I’m on facebook when I should be doing homework…” as their status.  well, right now I’m blogging when I should be cleaning my place.  ugh.  sucked in again.

this was a good sucked in though.  reflecting back on where God has brought me from.  seeing His faithfulness, once again.  He’s so awesome.  :D

calling all guys

…who like long walks on the beach, surfing, can change their own oil…

oh my goodness I’m totally kidding.  completely and 100%.

the following stats I read from the Acquire the Fire (ATF) Collision Course (a 6-week-ish follow-up study to the ATF weekend we took teens to in Tampa in April):

• 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept. 1988).
• 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes (U.S. Center for Disease Control).
• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of the Census).
• Tonight, about 40% of American children will go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live (Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem by David Blankenhorn).
• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools).

does that rock anyone else’s world?  it totally rocks mine.  I knew youth from broken homes are more prone to have their share of struggles.  but to have stats laid out like that…?

it’s at times like these that I wish I was a guy.  :)  but God made me a girl.  and I know girls have their own roles and influences and all that.  but when I hear stats like that, I just want to be a guy and go mentor youth and be a father to them.  thankfully, my God is a Father to the fatherless (Psalm 68:5).  He can fulfill the Father role abundantly more than I ever could, even if I was a guy.

which leads me to 2 conclusions.  youth need to know about this Father to the fatherless, especially those without an earthly father in their lives, but even those who do have dads in their lives – because even our earthly dads will fall short sometimes because they’re human (although my dad pretty much always rocks and I love him :) ).

and secondly, guys need to step it up.  fathers need to be fathers.  fathers need to be mentors to those without fathers.  guys who aren’t fathers need to step it up and be mentors to those without fathers.  even be mentors to those with fathers.

guys – go do something.

 

and as a disclaimer, yes, girls/mothers have their roles too and we definitely need to step it up as well.  this list of stats was just about the fatherless homes though – hence the sound off on guys.

totally off topic, but I kind of think it’d be funny to make a shirt that says, “I Survived the Rapture of 2011”. but then I wonder if it’d be taken as humorous to others.  :)  it’s more pointing out the foolishness of claiming we know the day and hour when Jesus returns – when Scripture says no one knows and that He will come like a thief in the night.

I laid sod today.  that was fun.  I felt like…I don’t know what I felt like, but I felt good.  :)

keep it real.

good morning, Friday!

last night I set my alarm for 6:20am to wake up this morning.  but I decided if I happened to wake up earlier, I would get up, hang out with God, and then get an early morning workout in before work.  sure enough, I woke up at 5:20 ready to go.

so after spending some time in the Psalms, I set out for a short run.  dude.  it was 81 degrees with a heat index of 86 degrees.  at 6:30 in the morning.  summer is fast approaching.  kept a decent pace and did some interval/speed training on the way back.  when I got home, I did a couple pull-ups on the bar out back.  just to be like Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush.  I only did a couple pull-ups.  but I justified it by believing she probably didn’t actually do full pull-ups while filming.  all you see is the top part of her – like her head and neck as the pop up over the bar.  for all I know, and this morning I chose to believe, there was someone holding her lower half and pushing her up.  at least, that’s what I chose to believe this morning as I did my measly 2 pull-ups.  unassisted.  BAM!

:)

oh yeah – speaking of early mornings -

2 nights ago (or…yesterday morning) i woke up at 4am and didn't fall back asleep 'til after 5am.  cancelled my morning workout because i knew i needed more than 5 hours of sleep to function all day/night.

and what, you may ask, woke me up?

a dream about a cow.

yes.

a cow.

i was at some rodeo thing and everyone got a cow and mine came and sat
so nice and quietly beside me.  and she followed me wherever i went.
she was so sweet.  and then Asian girls came out and stood by each of
us and put bags over the cow's heads and said we had to go to get them
slaughtered.  and i was like "but...i like my cow!!" and my Aunt Roxie was there and i said to her, "Aunt Roxie, was your cow sweet and calm too?  Are they all like this?" and she goes, "no way! i had to chase mine all over the place!"  so then i fell even more in love with my cow.  and my dream ended with the Asian girl handing the
cow over to be slaughtered.

traumatizing.

Random

An American guy just stopped me in the parking lot and asked if I speak English. Classic.


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I love my Mom!

 

my mom ROCKS!  if you don’t know her, you should.  she’s a cute little thing.

I love when we go out to the ranch in Nebraska – she turns into this uber legit ranch chick because, after all, that’s how she was raised.  it’s in her blood. 

yesterday my mom bought me a tervis tumbler cup and made a special trip to deliver it to me!

my mom was the first to introduce me to exercising.  she’d let us ride our bikes while she walked all over the neighborhoods.  I swear she walked like 10 miles every time.  ok probably not THAT many but I’m sure it was a lot.  and then there were the days of Tony Little, the short crazy energized man with the long pony tail.  when the VHS exercise tapes first came in the mail, my sister and I went a little gung-ho with them and were sore for a few days.  but we wanted heart shaped calves, just like Tony Little kept yelling about.  my mom told us we had to ease into it.  we didn’t listen.  :)

I don’t think I’ve ever heard my mom raise her voice.  she’s incredibly patient.

my parents took us all to Disney World a couple months ago to celebrate their 30th anniversary.  my mom was like a kid again!  I loved watching her dance in the streets with her granddaughters as the Disney parade went by.  I think she had more energy than Lucy and Claire!  :)

I LOVE MY MOM!

pirate man

I went to the beach after getting out of work early this fine Friday.

I went for a swim (salt water immersion=always refreshing). This guy was snorkeling and he surfaces. Looks up, pulls his mask up and looks at me, exclaiming, "I just looked up and here is this mermaid right in front of me!" and I go, "oh, really?" and he gasps and goes, "And she talks!!! She's a real mermaid!!!"

I forgot to mention he looked like a pirate. He was older, red bandana on, and missing lots of teeth. The teeth he did have were...in great need of dental work.

He proceeded to turn his back to me and started reaching for his shorts as he says, "you wanna see my secret?" Completely not knowing what to expect, realizing it was the Keys and strange things happen, but feeling he was harmless, I said, "sure", even though he was already reaching down the back of his shorts. He pulls out a near empty plastic water bottle and held it high in the air, huge gnarly grin on his face. "It helps me float!! They try to sell all these expensive floatation things and this works just fine! Plus I get some cool water to drink on my way out!"

Oh the Keys. :)

I'm in love.


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Proverbs 3:3-4

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."

I CAN cook!!

Chicken was moist!!!

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