On Thumbs

Other possible titles for this entry included:
-Ouch.
-Well, that hurt.
-Warning: This Entry Involves Blood.
-We'd never know what's wrong without the pain.
-You don't appreciate something until you find that you can't use it.
-I never really knew how much I used my thumb until my thumbnail decided to come off.

To tell the story -

Back in Morocco, one evening towards the end of the trip, I was getting ready for bed. Brushed my teeth, and then proceeded to grab the mouthwash bottle. Being that my hands were wet, my right hand slipped on the bottle cap and my thumb jammed into the lid. We then proceed to typical gasping of pain, some bleeding underneath the nail and soreness and bruising around the right side of the nail. Took some painkillers and didn't think much of it. Soreness continued during the remainder of the trip. Had to think of creative ways to trim my fingernails and play my guitar.

Back home, it didn't come to mind much; after all, I was in the midst of helping get all of my brother's wedding details worked out, and then I got my nails painted for the wedding. True, it still hurt, especially whenever I bumped it, but that was to be expected.

I finally noticed it after the nail polish had come off the week after the wedding. It was a yellowish bruise on the entire right side of my right thumb nail. And I had lots of fun commenting to whoever noticed that it was my Morocco bruise. I mean - it's not every day you get to go to Morocco and you get a really cool bruise that will most likely stay with you for a really long time (for, having acquired my fair share of bruises underneath nails, I can accurately testify to their persistence).

That was the middle of July. Fastfoward about a month, and I notice that it's starting to chip right in the middle of my nail. I start wearing a bandaid quite frequently in the hopes of avoiding any further chippage, but that is not to be. A month later (i.e., mid-September), it is now almost halfway ripped off, for despite my best intentions, it still gets caught and pulled on all sorts of things. And just darn hurts.

And then, last night. I was trying to pack some clothes for an overnight trip to my mother's. Sounds simple enough, right? Nope. I bent down to pick something up and my thumb accidentally hits the corner of a cardboard box. My thumb was covered at the time, but this did not prevent it from ripping off completely. Now, it's extremely sore.

But I don't mind. I really don't. I see it as a physical reminder of my time in Africa. There were lessons learned there that I do not want to forget. Ever. Lessons such as God's provision and His perfect timing. A deeper understanding of what an eternal perspective looks like, and being awed and humbled and overjoyed at being able to labor side by side with some of the best people I have had the privilege of knowing. Lessons such as trusting that God really does have me in the palm of His very capable and very large hands, and that He does have a plan for me, a much bigger plan that I ever dreamed possible. Lessons such as forgiveness and letting go and reconciliation. A reminder that I am not perfect yet, but one day I will be.

So I smile at the bandaid on my thumb, and laugh at myself as I clumsily attempt to take off my necklaces or type or write with a pen. And I thank God for the pain. What is a little pain in my thumb when I am reminded daily of how very big God is? And what is a little pain compared to the pain He went through for me and for the people I served over there and who need His love more than anything?

So What You're Saying Is...

I have to thank Sara E., Jen V. and Joe F. for a most entertaining and enlightening conversation last night! I haven't been that random in a very long time.

"Save the whales! Ahhhh..."

White Out!

This has been no end of help to me in my job today! I won't say what it was that I had to white out, but it was used for a rather large mistake on a rather prominent piece of literature that quite a few people will be seeing. It would be easier if I did engage brain once in a while. Thankfully, I get a very good laugh out of it now.

Welcome to the Monkey House!

Back in May, I got to visit the Baltimore Zoo with my dear friend Tracey. My good college friend Megan works there, and being on the inside, got us in to visit the monkeys! My favorite part of the tour was getting to feed the lemurs mulberry branches!

This is Brutus with his branch. If I'm not mistaken, he is the one that has the lazy eye (though you can't tell it from these pictures).

Meet Crispus and Leo! These two definitely loved to jump all over the place! It was fun to watch them jump over our heads and grab the branches.

We had to wear those surgical masks over our faces, so as to avoid the spreading of any nasty germs between both parties.

And I had to post another picture of some of my favorite lemurs. "I like to move it, move it!"

Retreated!

It was an awesome weekend at North Bay Adventure Camp with the 6th-12th graders on their retreat! I hadn't been on one of those things since my senior year in the youth group (which was actually 10 years ago at approximately the same time of the year, now that I think about it). I spent my Saturday on my feet, setting endless tables, dropping countless pieces of silverware, lugging around exorbitant amounts of food, and saying "Tiramisu?" eight billion times. But it was well worth it - God uses those small, seemingly unimportant moments to prompt bigger moments, and I can't wait to see what happened because I went. I know one day I'll find out, and that is enough for me.

And in the meantime, something else has retreated - my health. I never completely found my voice last week (I'm sure it's in the stadium where I left it), and over the weekend, came down with a cold (as opposed to a 'hot'). I am still feeling a little under the weather, but thankfully much better than yesterday, which was a day that included drug-induced sleep, a very sore throat, medication, a nose that ran away with itself, and a general achiness all over. I have to say, though, if I was going to take a sick day, Monday was thankfully the day to take it.

Retreating!

Well, I'm off to the Youth Retreat for the weekend! Happy weekend, everyone!

Caspian is Coming

"To know what would have happened, child? No. Nobody is ever told that. But anyone can find out what will happen. If you go back to the others now, and wake them up, and tell them that you have seen me again, and that you must all get up at once and follow me - what will happen? There is only one way of finding out." -Aslan, Prince Caspian

Happy Birthday!

This is my beautiful sister-in-love, Cindy. Today is her birthday! We've had many fantastical adventures together, including a trip to Colorado, a memorable visit to the RCA Dome out in Indianapolis, loosing our voices at football games, playing guitar together, singing for long hours into the night, many long and weary days during numerous Marching Band seasons, the ups and downs of my brother and now being family! Cindy, I love you and am so blessed to have you in my life! I always knew you'd be my sister! Happiest of Birthdays!

Arrr, Mateys! Savvy?

Since it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I be making this log entry a bit more piratey. Savvy?

'Twas a fine day o' plunderin'.(1) Me scurvy dogs in me crew walked the plank, and naught but a couple of 'em tried to take me with 'em. (2) 'Bout time to weigh anchor(3) and I be hopin' to meet up with me hearties for a night o' pillagin'.(4) And if any of ye landlubbers try and mutiny(5), it be the keelhaul for 'em.

*Translations:
1. work
2. My co-workers and I used our breaks today to take a walk, because it was absolutely gorgeous outside.
3. Leave
4. Meet up with GAP North for Bible study
5. slow rush hour drivers causing traffic

*~*

I like this day. Argh.

Ode to 42

42 is my favorite number.

There are 42 cells in the game Connect Four.

42 is the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything.

"P. Sherman. 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney"

42 was the title of a recent Doctor Who episode.

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

There are 42 generations between Abraham and Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew in the Bible.

42 = Jersey number of Jackie Robinson

There are 42 illustrations in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

This is my 42nd post.

Itsy, Bitsy Spider?

So have you ever been privy to an absolutely hysterical story that you thankfully had no part of? And then suddenly found yourself thrust into the middle of the drama?

My wonderful friend Rachael has been regaling me with stories of vicious spider episodes this entire week. To give a bit of background, her husband and family are away this week on vacation, and she is home, having unfortunately to work this week. Sunday afternoon, I hung out with her and a couple of her friends, and over a wonderful supper was treated a very funny story involving spiders.

Now, I'm not a big spider fan, by any stretch of the imagination. I generally loathe the creatures, for the idea of them crawling all over me just makes my skin crawl. It doesn't matter how big or small they are, they're spiders, and therefore I strongly dislike them. Rachael is the same way, though I would say she takes the dislike even further, so far as to literally get into hysterics when they appear, hyperventilate, cry. I will admit to at one point being close to that point in my fear, but I think traveling to Morocco and seeing some of the huge critters over there took away some of that.

Her story involved a huge spider making its appearance in her home Saturday night late, and her attempts at killing it. It was approximately the size of a half-dollar coin, and was very acrobatic in nature (jumping at will in all directions, and zooming all around her family room). She said that she fretted about the house for approximately 10 minutes before desiding to stun said spider with Resolve before mashing its guts into her carpet with a heavy-duty cardboard box. No sooner had she killed Spider #1 and gotten ready for bed when Spider #2 reared its ugly head. She attempted to kill it via the same way, but it was too quick for her and ran under her entertainment center. Cut to Sunday afternoon, prior to us having dinner, when it finally showed itself and was treated to the same fate as Spider #1.

Now, her retelling of the story was absolutely hysterical, for she included all the little motions, quirks and nuances that come with hearing and seeing a storyteller, despite my abhorrence of these creatures. I think it had something to do with the fact that it was indeed a funny story looking back on it, and I had absolutely no involvement with it, whatsoever. That made it safe. Or, so I thought.

I hung out with Rachael again last night for a girl's night, seeing as her family is still away, and she was getting lonely. We were in the middle of the movie when I saw it. Yes, another spider. This one, according to Rachael, was the biggest one she'd seen thus far. And when I say big, I mean big enough to fit the circumference of a coffee mug (body and legs included).

I pointed it out to her calmly (all the while thanking God that my feet were off the floor and resting on the coffee table), and she proceeded to act as I knew she would. I kept my eye on it while she rushed to the laundry room to grab the Resolve. But because of the quick movements, Spider #3 bolted underneath the entertainment center. After moving some of the kid's play things away from the general area and procuring a flashlight, I got down as close as I dared to the entertainment center and shined the light, hoping to draw the spider out so we could kill it. I saw nothing (Rachael, meanwhile is curled up on the sofa). She goes off to see if she can find something heavy which to use to kill the spider once it appears, while I search the areas on either side of the entertainment center. And I find it, hiding within the cables underneath her work desk. I calmly tell her to hand me the Resolve. And then many things happen in very quick succession.

I spray it once, and it runs, heading towards my feet. I continue spraying madly, while Rae starts to frantically shake her hands and wonder what could be heavy enough to squish it. I point out the very heavy, very full CD case sitting next to her, as I continue to spray this thing. I'd never seen a spider running that fast, nor could I believe that the amount of chemicals I was spraying it weren't killing it. She dropped the CD case on it and proceeded to squish it into the carpet, all the while screeching. She pulls it away to see a very unsquished spider still running like mad. I continue to spray, attempting to not let her hysterics get me all worked up, but the thing starts crawling all over the CD case and again towards me. Rachael runs off to try and find something heavier, and I keep spraying. It's still not dying. Rachael isn't getting back to me fast enough, so I resort to grinding the bottom of the spray bottle on its by now very wet body (because it just did not want to die). The first very hard hit didn't kill it either. Nor did the second. The third one finally started to slow it down, and by the fourth or fifth its body was starting to fall apart, and then I kept hitting it, just for good measure. Only after its body was completely mangled and in pieces did I stop. (You can call me extreme if you like, but when you don't like spiders, you make sure they're completely dead. Especially if you try to kill it goodness knows how many times before hand using lots of chemicals, heavy CD cases and lots of hitting and it still refuses to die.)

And then the two of us looked at each other and laughed and laughed. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. My friend complimented me on how calmly I handled the entire situation, but that was just on the outside - my insides weren't too happy with me at that moment. The beauty of the whole thing is that we used carpet cleaner on it, so all we had to do in order to get the spider stains out of the carpet was clean it up. That, and the entire house smelled clean like Resolve (to the point of producing a headache).

While she described the whole ordeal to her husband over the phone, I took it upon myself to declare to any other spiders that might have been lurking around the family room, "Okay, you've seen what happens to your friends when they show their ugly faces. That will be your fate, should and when you choose to show yours. It would be in your best interest to immediately vacate these premises, if you value your life. This is your only warning! You show your face, you die! Now, leave!"

I would like to say that thus ends the saga of the spiders, but it doesn't. My friend emailed me this morning to tell me that, after getting back from dropping me off, there in the middle of the floor in the family room, sitting proudly like he was king of the mountain, was Spider #4. And almost right after I'd given him the talking to! The nerve! Well, Rachael decided to 'change things up' a bit by using Oust, figuring it couldn't hurt to try a different chemical. Well, Spider #4 is now currently the nicest-smelling alive spider ever to walk on the planet. It didn't work. He ran off before she could finish him off. The saga continues.

And the moral of the story, children: Keep a bottle of Resolve handy should any spiders decide it might be fun to try and run up your legs. It kills quicker and smells just as fresh as Oust any day.

My World is a Flood

In my wanderings around my house this morning, while still in the process of waking up and procurring myself a much-needed cup of coffee, I heard a sound that one doesn't usually hear coming from the boiler room on our first floor. At first, I couldn't be sure it was coming from the downstairs, as my mother was upstairs in the process of getting a shower, so I stood at the top of the stairs to get a better listen. And then I heard it - the unmistakable sound of rushing water.

I am immediately awake, and after hastily setting down a small glass of orange juice I'd been finishing up, rushed down to investigate. Sure enough, I walk in, and the floor of the boiler room is covered in water, water spewing out of the pipes of the hot water heater. There was a visible amount of water covering the floor, and all of the items taking up residence in the boiler room were completely soaked.

I call my father down to see it as I rush upstairs to get my mother to shut off the water. We remove all that we can out of the boiler room to find that, thankfully, nothing appears to be significantly damaged (the greatest extent to the damage might have just been the cardboard boxes that held various blankets/tools/etc.). And then we proceed to mop up the water and clean up the floor. After a few more minutes, the problem is diagnosed: one of the pipes had 'fallen off' (the words of my father, not mine; I am by no means a technical-type who'd understand the ins and outs and terminology associated with pipes bursting), and with the help of a ladder and the force exerted in one hard push, the issue was resolved.

Thankfully, it appears that we do not have to replace anything (we just replaced the hot water heater this past Thanksgiving). I just have to wonder why in the world my family has such an affinity to floods. This is not the first time we've had water issues at home; my mother's also had a flood in her home. There have been at least three floods at the church (that I am aware of), and prior to that, the bookstore that my father and mother worked at had way too many floods for its own good.

Anyone know of a good ark?

The Tales that Really Matter

Madeleine L'Engle has passed away.

I read her book, A Wrinkle in Time, many times while I was growing up. I always loved it. And it stayed with me. There are some books that become a part of who you are, no matter how old you get, and so it makes me sad to hear of her passing. Thank you Ms. L'Engle, for your books, your time, and the legacy you left behind.

"We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes." -The Rock That is Higher

"Just because we don't understand doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist." -A Wrinkle in Time

"You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you." -A Wrinkle in Time

EDIT: I just heard that Robert Jordan has also passed away. I haven't read any of The Wheel of Time books yet, but I have intentions to read them. The world has lost yet another influential and prolific fantasy writer.

A.P.B. out on: My Voice

MISSING: My voice

Last heard: Saturday night at the Delaware Football Game

Owner is very desirous of its recovery. If you have any knowledge of its whereabouts, please drop me a line.

Reward offered: My undying thanks and eternal gratitude. And chocolate.

Yours Truly, Angry Mob

I can prove anything
I'll make you admit again and again
That I can prove anything
The way that it's read again and again

And it's only 'cause you came here with your brothers too
If you came here on your own, you'd be dead
It's only 'cause you follow what the others do
It's no excuse to say you're easily lead

You can choose anything
You choose to lose again and again
You could do anything
Why should you do anything again

And it's only 'cause you came here with your brothers too
If you came here on your own, you'd be dead
You're winding yourself up until you're turning blue
Repeating everything that you've read

So here we go with the letter
Well, can you fix it for me
Because we need entertainment
To keep us all off the streets
So tonight you'll sleep softly in your bed

You can try anything
And no one would know apart from you and me
You can stop anything
It starts with just one and turns to two then three

It's only 'cause you came here with your brothers too
If you came here on your own you'd be dead
You raise a glass until
You raise a fist or two
And get a shopping basket wrapped round your head

So here we go with the letter
Oh, can you fix it for me
Twenty-four hour drinking
To keeps us all off the streets
So tonight you'll sleep softly in your bed

We are the angry mob
We read the papers every day
We like who we like
We hate who we hate
But we're also easily swayed

We are the angry mob
We read the papers every day
We like who we like
We hate who we hate
But we're all so easily swayed

We are the angry mob

-The Angry Mob, Kaiser Chiefs

Birthday Cake

We celebrated staff birthdays yesterday, and here's a picture of the cake that we got to enjoy. Butter cake with raspberry filling in between the layers, and a butter cream icing. Yummy!

Where Were You When...

I can remember it like it was yesterday. I didn't know anything had happened. By an odd coincidence, I didn't have the radio on at all while I was driving to my classes. I didn't pay any attention to the radio on the bus ride into campus - I was too busy finishing up my Literature reading and studying for a Latin verb quiz. I walked to my 9:30 class in silence, by myself. I remember vaguely hearing a girl in my English class mention something about the World Trade Center to another classmate before the professor came in. She asked us if any of us knew anything about what was happening in New York City, something about a plane hitting one of the Towers of the WTC. No one really knew anything, and the impression she gave was that some small plane hit grazed the top of the tower, or something small like that. She just waved her hand, and started in on Charles Brockden Brown's Edgar Huntley like nothing was wrong. After class, I pulled out my Latin notes and started reviewing them as I walked to class and happened to pass through the Trabant Center. It was then that it hit me that something was really wrong, for the entire placed was packed, people crowded around all the TVs. I took a few minutes to check out what was going on, and in one fell swoop learned that both towers had been hit, both had fallen, the Pentagon had been hit and a plane had gone down in a field in Pennsylvania. I didn't want to leave, but had to get to my other class. I passed a girl who was shrieking into the payphone, trying to make sure a loved one was okay. One of my friends who was in RotC was ready to leave that very day to start dishing out paybacks. I got to my Latin class, and our professor carried on like everything was normal, for she had no TV at home and didn't pay any attention to the news. After about 10 minutes of her mindless chatter, a classmate asked in frustration if we could just get the bloody quiz over and done with and get out of there, and then we had to explain to her what had happened. She understood and gave us the quiz and let us leave. I went home, found out from my parents that my uncle had up until earlier that year worked in one of the towers, and spent the rest of the day numb. I was very fortunate not to have lost family that day, or have to suffer through the pain and loss that day brought, and so today I say a prayer for those who are still dealing with this tragedy. My heart goes out to you.

Happy Birthday!

My dear friend Laura had a birthday over the weekend! She threw a 'surprise' party for herself Friday evening, little knowing that the true surprise paty was the next day - a day of fun outdoors, complete with hiking and lots of outdoor excitement! It is such fun to spend time with her. Happy Birthday, my wonderful friend!

The Grey Havens, Part the Second!

Well, here it is!


After the reheresal dinner, we all went back to the inn and spent a good hour folding Misty's programs. If you click on the picture, you'll be able to see them better. They were folded like this game we used to play, the one where you'd fold a piece of paper on it in about 20 ways (or some such number) and then read off numbers and colors and count and then you'd supposedly get your fortune read. When we were growing up, my cousins and I would spend hours playing that game. It was neat to see. And I have no idea what my father was doing to have made a face like that...

The cliffs by the water's edge that I spent some time climbing. I climbed down to them Saturday afternoon, as we had loads of free time before the wedding started. I spent a good bit of down on the dock too.

A view of the dock and an idea of how far down I came to get to the water's edge. It wasn't all that harrowing. ;-)

On the cliffs.

And yet another view off the cliff.

My brother and his girlfriend, Alisha. She's the sweetest thing ever!

Wedding time! My at-that-time cousin-to-be waiting intently for his bride. Where is she?

Oh, there she is! And she was absolutely gorgeous!

They said their own vows to each other. Oddly enough, I could only here Keith's as where I was standing with my mom and our flutes/the flute stand, the wind was to us, and we couldn't here a word she said. (*Note to self: send her an email to ask her what she said.)

"'Nother one bites the dust..." The deed is done!

Nana, Aunt Carmen, Misty & Keith, Kevin, Angel and Autumn. My family has made me so very happy. :-)

Wedding funness!

All partied out and time to head to bed...

...but not before cake! Okay, confession: I didn't really like this cake. I can say that without feeling guilty because Mist was telling me up until the night before that she was jealous of the wedding cake I'd gotten at my brother's wedding. And after tasting her cake, I had to say that I agreed with her. Mrs. Z's wedding cake has now spoiled me! But it still was pretty.

Sunrise on Sunday. It was so peaceful.

And the sea looked like glass and those ships called me home...

Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti

1935-2007

The Grey Havens, Part the First!

My weekend in Maine! In parts, because it's taking me a lot longer to get this formatted the way I'd like, and I really want to get home to eat my dinner.


The view from the plane window. It was absolutely beautiful! It's views like this that take away the annoyance that was driving down to Baltimore to fly to Philadelphia and then have a layover that turned into a delayed flight from Philadelphia to Portland, getting us there in about the same amount of time it would have taken us to drive there.


The view from the front porch

The front porch

The Grey Havens Inn. Look - it's got turrets!

View off the side of the cliff . We got there early enough on Friday afternoon that we could do a little exploring around the property. It was absolutely beautiful!

Brother and sister-love!

Black-eyed Susans are some of my favorite flowers.

Alas! No picture of myself in front of the sign.



This was the room I shared with my brothers and sister-in-love. I took the bed closest to the window, because I have this love of letting the morning light wake me up. I love to get up early in the morning, because everything is so peaceful and calm and still, and I can spend time thinking and praying. I unfortunately don't do it as much as I should.



Several of the walls throughout the entire inn were wallpapered in old music. It was a neat idea, but loving music as I do, it was kind of sad to see all the old music torn up.

*****
Up next...folding machines, a harrowing trek down a mountain side, and pictures from the actual wedding! Stay tuned!