A couple weeks ago, I made my niece clear this weekend on her ever so busy calendar to hang out with her "Cool Aunt Sara"...she did...and here is the result:

Thinking I would be smart and take a "shortcut" from work on Friday to pick up B...I nearly didn't make it there as the road was flooded and the gravel roads were also mudded out.

Saturday was the RiverFest...held by the river on campus...though this year, again, thanks to flooding, it was a bit different. We didn't mind, because there were still funnel cakes and lots to see!

Spring is trying really hard to arrive in Iowa..I think it is succeeding!

After RiverFest we stopped by my church and shot some hoops.

Then we went to the park where B played in the sand and I got to swing for quite a long while. I love swings!

The (sketchy) rides at the park are not open yet. So we marveled at how much of the park is under water right now...

Something is not right about this pic! :)

B.

Oh dear.

We raced on the railroad tracks through the park...I think she won...barely. :)

Not a great pic by any means...but you get the point. Last night we played with henna. When I lived in Dakar, my best friend and I put with henna in our hair annually just for fun...so I introduced B to that tradition. :) It is a scary thing to let an 11 year old do something so permanent to your hair!

Malaria is spread through the unfelt bite of a mosquito, and it claims more than 1 million lives each year. Ninety percent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, where malaria accounts for about one in five of all childhood deaths. What's especially tragic is that malaria is both preventable and treatable, but many parents lack the basic tools and medicines to keep their children safe and healthy.

World Malaria Day on April 25th






I have shamelessly stolen this blog from my friend Kari who has a beautiful post on her site. But in case you don't want to click over...there is something you can do to help.

Donate $10 to World Vision. All donations will be tripled in impact by government grants and will go to help provide life-saving insecticide-treated bed nets, medical supplies and fight to eradicate malaria. While you're on the World Vision site, sign the petition asking your members of Congress to swiftly reauthorize the Global AIDS, TB and Malaria Bill.

Play a game and have a mosquito net delivered in your name (through April 25).

And then check out Kari's site to read some real life stories about malaria and our need to pitch in and help. There are so many things in this world we feel helpless to do anything about; this need not be one of them.

...on paint fumes! This weekend was a productive one. Here it is in a nutshell:

Friday:
Meet Mom at Lowe's and pick out paint for my bathroom and bedroom. (I said something in my "tour" in November about there being too much yellow in my place!) Go home and consider going to bed around 9pm. Instead, paint my bathroom.

Consequently, I have also torn out the floor and will redo it in the white tiles you see here.

"Sand Drift" is much easier on the eyes than YELLOW!

Saturday:
Go shopping for baby shower gift with a friend. Go to Mom and Dad's, help start putting up a suspended ceiling in the basement. Go shopping for a movie that is not on sale yet. Go home and start painting my bedroom...many hours later, finish and crawl into bed, breathing in paint fumes all night. (What can I say, I really like my bed...and the window WAS open.)

I just can't handle this much yellow.

I seriously need some wall hangings!

Please ignore the mess!

Sunday:
Wake up with headache. Head to church, turn around halfway there and go back home. Move furniture back to its place in my room. Go to church for real this time. Go to baby shower for my cute pregnant friend. Come home, Dad tells me my bathroom floor is rotting. Go for dinner, go on a drive with Mom. Come home, lesson plan, do laundry, and blog.

Super cute pregnant friend who I don't see often enough!

It's been a productive weekend. What I wouldn't do for just one more day of it...

I used the word "dream" today for the first time in awhile.
A new opportunity is perhaps on the horizon.
I can't share too many details yet...
I'm trying not to get my hopes up too far.
But please pray that God's will be done in this.
To my liking or not. :)

All day long I have tried to piece together one entire thought...but it has yet to be. So here is a look at a few of the many things running around my mind.

1) Ice Cream

I've said it hundreds of times, ice cream makes everything better. Today is a rainy, cold day and I'm feeling a bit under the weather myself...unable to sleep all week due to a busy mind...at one point I cried out in the silence of my home, "These thoughts have got to stop!" And then it came to me. Ice cream. So I sat down with a bowl of Whitey's Strawberry Ice Cream and for those 10 minutes, all was well in my mind. :)

2) Living Alone

I've mentioned before that living alone has taken some getting used. I realized today that I have had a light bulb burned out in my upstairs bathroom for 3 months now. I can change a light bulb with no problem, I just haven't. A roommate would never let that go for so long. I also do not know how to buy groceries for myself only. I've always shared my food with my roommates - they knew they were free to take whatever I had...but living alone, I have no one to help me finish up all that food that is soon to go bad. It is an art to buy for one...I'm learning!

3) Summer Journey

My summer journey is starting to become a reality as I begin to nail dates down and cement plans with those whom I will see. Though I'm looking forward to all of it, I have to confess that my reunion with my "family" from Senegal is at the top of the list as I have not seen my best friend for two years and the others for longer than that! I know that it will be a time full of laughter and genuine conversations...all of which I miss dearly and long for daily.

4) Defining Moments

In considering the movie I mentioned in my last post, "Becoming Jane" and how it reflects a defining moment in her life, I have been forced to consider my own. Heaven forbid, if a movie or book were ever done about me, what would it be about? I have my ideas, ones that I am not likely to share with such a broad audience, but I can say that I hope it will all end happily. And I suppose in the very end of it all, it does...I'll get to be Home at last.

5) Next Step

Perhaps I am not alone in my tendency to wonder what is next. This week I will be talking with someone about a possibility for my near future. I have a few other ideas on the back burner in case this one falls through...but I wonder where life will take me next, who it will involve, what dreams will come true and which ones will remain question marks. If I am to remain here, what will it look like? Life has not followed the path I had hoped for, which leaves room for a reshaping of dreams...I just wonder what it will all look like.

We have had a fantastic round of storms tonight, including two tornado sirens and hail. I truly love nights like these when I can sit with my window open and listen to the thunder and the rain as it intensifies and diminishes again. There is only one sound more soothing than this to me...though it is far off from this place...

A few nights ago, I was introduced to an author that I knew relatively little about. I knew the rough time period in which she lived and the names of a few of her books...and that was about it. She is a common name and most are stunned that I have never read any of her works. Jane Austen.

My mom was intent on watching the movie "Becoming Jane" when it came out as she is a Jane Austen fan and she has an England connection. I however, informed her that it looked "prissy" and was not interested. (Insert foot in mouth.) Feelings of guilt overwhelmed me and when it came out on video I told Mom if she got it I would watch it with her.

Little did I know.

The story itself, like most Hollywood productions, is embellished. However, I have to believe that the core characters and story line are fairly accurate. One would not think this upon shallow research, but after looking long and hard for how this story was thought up, I found it. It is not so far fetched apparently. If you are curious, check these out:

http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol27no1/walker.htm
http://www.janeausten.co.uk/magazine/page.ihtml?pid=489&step=4
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/brablet1.html#letter1

After learning about these events in her life, I feel like Jane is my new friend. I connected with her through the movie and then finding actual circumstances of her life. So much so that today I went and picked up Pride and Prejudice and have already fallen in love with it. Most writers have someone that they look to for inspiration - I think I have found mine. Fiction has always frightened me. However, after much consideration this past week, it does not seem nearly so scary...and unlike life, can always end happily.

It's late and tomorrow is Monday. But I wanted to share a few things that have been going on.

1) Last week, I went downtown with a buddy of mine to hear some music. There was a musician there named Vandaveer. He was incredible. I listened to his stuff online and wasn't as impressed, but check him out nonetheless and if you have a chance to hear him, I recommend it if you like the folk genre. At the gig, he seemed to sing a bunch of songs that must be coming out on his next CD (Except for the song "However Many Takes It Takes").

2) Went to DSM this weekend to see my best friend from here. Fun and yummy times. My palate was overwhelmed with all the yumminess that was experienced. First off: Pizza Haus (the best pizza in the world, made in our hometown). Next up: Dunkin' Donuts (something that no longer exists in my town). And finally: Tasty Tacos, a great little hole in the wall place that I was introduced to by another friend of mine. But to top it all off was a trip to World Market (a most favored place of mine) and time with my friend. :)

3) Read an interesting article after hearing something on Prime Time America. Actually two articles regarding Bush and Africa...and how the media has overlooked this:
A) Geldof and Bush: A Diary from the Road
B) Africa, AIDS, and the Good Samaritan-in-Chief (A response to the TIME article)

I was born and raised in the Midwest and have a strong affinity for anything Midwestern. However, when I moved to Senegal, I fell head-over-heels in love. With the beach...as any of you who frequent this site are aware of.

Tonight as I sit here wrapped in a blanket because I haven't been able to get warm all day...listening to nothing but the tapping of my keyboard, I long to hear one sound. The ocean. I never thought I would fall in love with it. I always liked it, but until I lived in a place where I went there more than once a week, it was nothing more than a friendly acquaintance.

When I visited my friends in Senegal in 2006, I took this short video, simply because I wanted to have a way to "return" to my favorite place in the world, even if only in my mind. So many memories on this beach...join me, if you like.

A couple of updates:

** My mom got the crayon completely out of my clothes! What can I say other than she's amazing! I was also comforted to discover that I am not the only one this has happened to. Type "melted crayon in clothes" in a search engine and you will be surprised!

** I have added a new section to this site: Reflections. Just thoughts as I read through my favorite Book. Feel free to comment - add insight or correct any off-base thinking! :)