23

I had a birthday.It was the best party I could have imagined.

I am finally starting to believe that if I break down, these folks will drive out and find me.

Anna asked my friends what they saw in me. She took those words and turned them into party decor.

I was reminded as I listened to my community re-name me again that we are all products of our surroundings, we become what we follow. I am just a little seed, and any fruit that I bear is because of the Father who planted me here and put me with people who are such good soil.

My roots grow deeper every year. And the fruit gets sweeter.

happy am I

Sometimes it's time to be a new person. I always think it's easier to be a new person if you go to a new place, a lie I learned by heart as a little one traipsing all over the world. Moving is a self-indulgent pleasure that I refuse to allow myself more than once every few years. This was a happy day.

This house is musical and sunshiny and full of friends.
My room is a pentagon, which delights me every night when I crawl into bed and look up at the ceiling.
It has a nifty contraption in the kitchen that stores my dirty dishes out of sight and then washes them for me.
Anna and I have an upper room walled with windows and little seating, but our friends like it better than the couch-filled living area, so we cram up there like kids in a tree-house. The entire house leans forward and is slowly falling down the hill, but surely that will happen long after our lease is up.
Jim, Bethany, and Tom live in the grand mansion right behind us and an old ladder leaned against the fence lets us get to each other's houses for dinner without having to walk around the block. But be careful if you use it, I ripped my pants on the first climb over and laughed at feeling like a child who should be scolded. I'll be more careful next time, I promise.
Cement walls and carpet everywhere keep the inside comfortable with the heat set at 62.
The neighbor boy has a puppy.

I love it.

She was gone too long

I looooove airports. I have some extremely positive childhood memory association with airports (insert imagery of 12+ smiling waiving happy relatives eager to squeeze and spoil me). They're such a happy transitioning channel from where I was to where I want to be. I love airplanes too.

Last night, I decided to impose my dream of being picked up from the airport with balloons and signage upon my good friend Blakely.

Blakely was gone from Kansas City for a little over two weeks for some seminary learnin', and we missed her something awful!

It was fun. I hope Blakely enjoyed it as much as I did.

Yes, the sign is in reference to Kirk Franklin's "Stomp". Amy and I wanted to make sure Blakes ain't goin' nowhere no mo'.

Weekend funnies

Cari: "I'll make strata for our meeting next week."
Me: "What's estrata?"
Cari: "Well, Eric Estrada is an actor. Strata is a breakfast casserole."

Will: "I think perhaps the problem is the nonlinearality."
Reflective pause
"That almost didn't make it out of my mouth. And it's probably still not a word."

Tom in reference to my nose ring: "It's like crystalized zit."
Me: "What?!"
Sean, very quickly: "That's not what he meant."

Trevor to Amy in reference to her black coffee preference:
"You're such a dude...when it comes to drinking...coffee."
Amy: "Thanks for pausing in all the right places."

The hero-parents

Mom and Dad went to Haiti.

It's not suprising.

Dad is the kind of guy who watches the disaster news with silent tears rolling down his face. Mom is the kind of lady who looks at hurting people and feels their pain too. Then they both do all the action verbs it takes to reach out and touch those people's hearts and bodies with tenderness and bring healing that's not of their own power.

Mom set bones that buildings had crushed and delivered babies in tents under trees. Dad used his French to tell the defeated Haitians where they could find renewed strength and joy.
I hope this trip was good for them and reminded them of the first time they left home to go on mission and how they found each other.

I just love them so much.

And I'm sure they won't be mad when they find out that I got my nose pierced last weekend.

the year of fun

We drove to Nashville to pick up some memories.

We ate good food and drank new wine and listened to sweet music. We laughed really hard. We stayed up till early and talked about what? We got a little cuter and braver. The ride home was long but we danced hard and spoke softly.

Amy and I are polar opposites. Nathan will do just fine in that town, because Greg Johnson is his dad and he taught him everything. Jason came alive and I got to see it. Kaytlyn is a funny honeybabe and life has more for her than she thinks just now. I am an introvert who has the complete inability to act my age, even when I try hardly. I still want to know where they put away all the poor people.

Human talent and passion is a sharp currency in that town and I belong in Kansas City.

January resolution: Read the Bible in a year.
February resolution: Don't get discouraged when I fall behind. Keep going.

January resolution: Wear makeup.
February resolution: Start brushing my teeth and inserting my contacts before applying the makeup instead of after. It gets messy.

January resolution: Go on more road trips.
February resolution: Nashville? This weekend?

January resolution: Move out of my house.
February resolution: Move out of my house NOW.

January resolution: Don't hate February.
February resolution: (...)