Brenna and I went on a walk today.
At my favorite place in Iowa.
Today was a lovely day of relaxing with family and friends.

The cool tree we saw.
We called it the "skirt tree".

My sunshine, Brenna.

Kathryn really liked Brenna.

Dad and daughter.

Anna's manicure station.

Sweet Kathryn.

The happy couple.
It finally happened.
Congrats.

(More pics to come later...when Trac sends them to me. :) )

Our "gang" from high school. The 8 of us were inseparable.
Brina, Kev, Micah, Trac, me, Lucas, Ben, and Jerry.
Thanks guys for 17 wonderful years and the love you have shown me...near or far.

Brina, me, Kev, and Trac...my 3 best friends from high school/college.
We've been through a lot together in the last 17 years.

Joe and Kev...whom I haven't seen for sooo long. :)

Lucas and the beach bum, Micah.

Seriously, who is more pregnant?

My turn at the $1 dance with the groom.

Long time buddies, Ben and Micah.

Lainie was NOT tired.

Neither was Alex.
I never knew a child could fall asleep in your arms while fast dancing. :)

Lara, me, Crazy Aunt Mary, and Aaron...fun times today. :)










Me and my big brother. He just loves having his picture taken. :)

Do you ever get that confused "where am I" feeling?

The flights were rather uneventful today (though I thought I was going to meet my Maker during the flight to Atlanta) and arrived only 10 minutes behind schedule to where my dad was waiting for me. :) Mom had fixed a pot roast, but apparently the power went out at some point today because when she went to serve it up, we discovered it was not even close to done, though it had been in there since 7am. So we went with plan B and had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse (yum!).

So as I was looking around, I kept having this thought run through my mind, "Wow, look, there is a guy with an Iowa cap on, I should go talk to him, he's a fellow Iowan and that is rare in these parts!" But then, as I looked around the room, I realized that EVERYONE had on these caps/shirts...and it would hit me, "Oh yeah, I'm back home."

On the way back to our house, I decided Dad's car needed a name, just like Jack has a name...feeling like I was in a mob car, Mom came up with "The Godfather"...so now, much to his delight (not so much), my dad's car has a name.

Home at last...to a few changes around the house, which are fun to discover. :) Ah, its good to be back. Despite the fact I left 80 degrees and sunny for 50 degrees and rainy, it's worth it to be home. :)

Update:
I think I have influenced my family a little bit with this whole naming of inanimate objects thing...right before Mom went to bed, she said, "Oh, have you seen Robby?" I had no idea what she was talking about...so she proceeded to wake "Robby" up...only for me to discover that is it a Roomba (vaccuum for all practical purposes)...and she talks to him like I talk to Jack (my car)...saying, "Ok, time for bed...go home now." I think my dad is concerned about us a little bit. :) Possibly for good reason.

In 12 hours, I will be back on a plane again headed to my beloved Iowa.
I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to get there.
Updates WILL follow. :)

Confession:

Sometimes I don't understand why God allows the things He allows.



But I will still trust Him

“For us who believe, this world is as bad as it will ever get; this is our Hell…we have eternity with God to look forward to. For those who do not believe, this world is the best they will see; this is their Heaven…they have eternity without God, with fire and burning to look forward to.”

These aren’t the exact words, but the idea is present. Our seminary student body president today said this during our chapel time. We were praying through the Lord’s Prayer piece by piece, with the VA Tech incident at the forefront. He then jumped to Revelation 21 where the new heaven and earth are described…and this concept flowed from that. Here on earth, those of us who believe in Christ and trust Him, walking with Him…this is our Hell…this is the worst we will ever experience. We may have difficulties; heartache, persecution, sickness, torture, and death…but that’s as bad as it gets. After this life is over for us, we have an amazing eternity to look forward to. Our tears will be wiped away, our sicknesses gone…we will be in the presence of our Creator and Beloved Lord. It puts it all in perspective for us. However, for those who don’t know Him, trust in Him, or have not given their lives to Him…this is Heaven…this is the best they can ever hope for. They don’t have a glorious eternity to look forward to, but rather, one of torture. This sounds harsh and I know some of you reading this will think I am being a radical Christian-type who is closed-minded…but this is just the truth of the situation. My heart hurts for such people…I know my life, whereas it has been far from awful, has had some heart-wrenching moments where I didn’t want to see another day…and I’ve really had it pretty good.

The beauty of the current situation though is that things can change. Those who don’t know Him can know Him. They can have more to look forward to than this life. They don’t have to live in the fear that this is all there is…that this is, to quote the movie, “As good as it gets”.

Totally random side note:

I took Jack in to the doctor this week...so I have a rental car which I have affectionately named "Harold" for the time-being. He is a Saturn Ion...not my favorite, but he's a little crazy in that he has really good acceleration and takes curves a lot faster than Jack. :)

Do you ever have one of those periods in life where there just are no thoughts.
Or at least none that stick.
Like maybe I'll have one during the day and think to myself,
"Self, you seriously need to write this one down."
But then life comes along.
And you forget.
Then you try desperately to remember it at the end of the day.
But to no avail.
It's gone.
But it will undoubtedly come back tomorrow at a most inopportune time.
When you can't write it down again.
And the cycle goes on.

That's been me lately.
There are a few things running around in the noggin.

About Abram and the many separations he had to deal with in life.
And how that seems to be also true in mine.
Or about how I get frustrated with Americans and their toys sometimes.
Like when horrible things are happening and a man gets mad that his HD TV isn't working.
And how much I love sunshine days.
Especially when I get to go drive in them or play outside.

But alas, with transition mode setting in.
And with homework piling up.
And of course work and sleep.
Things just don't get written down like they used to.

So I apologize.
Life is good.
God is amazing.
I'm just having a hard time getting things from my brain to....
To anywhere, really.

Some things I'm looking forward to in the next few months...(both in Iowa and before I leave here)

1) No more studying.
2) Canoeing
3) Lots of hugs from friends I haven't seen in a long time.
4) Shooting with my brother and dad.
5) A long 1,000 mile roadtrip with no one but Jack, me, and the summer breeze.
6) Being able to see the stars in the Iowa countryside
7) Not feeling like my life is in danger everytime I get on the road.
8) Sweet corn.
9) Hanging out on the beach for a week with my closest friends.
10) Writing a lot of stuff I want to write.
11) Walks around the river with Whitey's ice cream.
12) Feeding the ducks.
13) Eating at Mickey's...good burgers!
14) Being close to my family again.
15) Whatever God has in mind to do next. :)

It is snowing back home today.
April 11th.
And it's snowing.

I'm having second thoughts about moving home in July.
Not sure I can handle the cold weather anymore.

I'm sort of a wimp anymore.

This morning when I got home from work...
I crashed for 6 hours.
I think I was tired.

Now I have to go home and memorize outlines.
And think about if I really want to move home in July.
:)

He is Risen!
Happy Easter all...what a wonderful day. I don't remember the last time I woke up on Easter morning and didn't smile...today was no exception. I looked outside and my thermometer read 32 degrees...or 0 degrees depending on what side you look at...then I looked down and realized that I had sandals on. Good stuff.
So here are some events of the day...after church I had some friends over for lunch and then some dying of eggs. A perfect day.

The noodles that I made...everyone was impressed by this, but they are REALLY easy. :)

Not the most flattering of pics, but I figured Mom would appreciate seeing that the apron she got me was being used!! By the way, the whipped cream took forever!!! And the house was REALLY cold, hence the slippers. ;)

It's a bit blurry...but here is the ham we had left over...our "bucket-o-ham"...the ham that nearly did not fit into the crock-pot, but with a good beating (or otherwise known as tenderizing) it fit. :)

Yes, the pretty dyes...but do you see what is in the background...the leftovers of the ham after the "bucket-o-ham" was gathered. This thing was seriously huge!

The preparations for dying the eggs.

Amy and Tom...scary smile Tom...told you it was going to make the site...now everyone gets to see. :) Hehe.

RJ and Tom decorating...it's fun to see men dying Easter eggs. :)

"The Spill"...and funny enough, Easter egg dye does not come out of clothes....hmmm, might not want to get this stuff for the kids!

And Jonathan is finishing up the last egg. :)

More Easter eggs. :)

I never had any younger siblings.
I always prayed for some, but God decided that wouldn't be a good idea.
Or maybe it was my folks.
Or maybe both.
So I just adopted all the little boys in my neighborhood as little brothers.

Today I went to hang out with my Senegal family, the Dalenburgs.
I used to house-sit for them in Senegal.
They have three wonderful sons.
And I got to play with them (and some other kids) all day long.
Badminton, volleyball, shooting, frisbee golf, football, and we all went for a walk.
I told J that I was trying to forget my age today.
So I played like I was still 20 and had a blast.
It felt, for the afternoon, like I had little brothers.
And A and J feel like family to me.
They were there through it all in Dakar.

Then tonight I got to thinking...
They ARE family.
And it is all because of this weekend 2000 years ago.
Today is good Friday.
Christ died today 2000 years ago for my sins 2000 years later.
And for everyone else's.
And on Sunday, we celebrate His defeat of death.
And rising from the grave.

And it is for this reason that though I miss my family back home this weekend...
I have family here.
And I am so thankful that God has blessed me in that way.
I love having little brothers.
(And big brothers and sisters - both little and big!)

My dad called the other day and told me that he was concerned about me.
He said that Jack is not a real person and I shouldn't talk as if he is.
He said that Jack was not "playing in the sprinkler".
He said that others he has encouraged to check my site will start to think he's the father of a looney.
I simply said that in fact, Jack WAS playing in a sprinkler as you could see from the pics.
And my referring to Jack as I do probably stemmed from being single for so long.
But I take comfort in the fact that I'm not the only one who does it.

So...
Just the other day, I was thanking God that despite the psycho driving here in SC, my life and Jack's had been spared.
Last night I left Jack out on the driveway in a different spot.
This morning I went out to go to class and found that there was a big dent in his door.
Turns out that my neighbor (a really nice girl, but consequently, a SC native) had backed into him.
So poor Jack is hurt.
He did not escape SC unscathed.
But it was close...4 months out.