"Rain down, all around the world we're singing..."

"Rain down, can you hear the Earth is singing

Rain down, my heart is dry but still I'm singing

Rain down, rain it down on me.

Back to the start, my heart is heavy

Feels like it's time, to dream again

I see the clouds and yes I'm ready

To dance upon this barren land

Hope in my hands."

It has been raining most of the day and I sit here on the couch listening to the padder on the canopy, looking out my patio window, watching the rain fall to the Earth. Personally I can't think of anything better. There is something so peaceful and refreshing about a summer rain. If I hadn't just showered I would be really tempted to splash around in the puddles like when I was a kid. Mom and Dad would always get so annoyed when we would come in after the rain and leave grass clippings on the kitchen floor... whoopsie! Sorry about that.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all I have to do in the next couple weeks. That includes moving out of this apartment. Disaster. I know I mentioned this in my last blog but it is haunting me... I can't get away from it and yet I sit here.... listening to the rain.

"My sun sets to raise again."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"This road that we travel..."

"For God's mercy holds us and we are his own

This road that we travel 

May it be the straight and narrow

God give us peace and strength from you

All the day through."

INDIA UPDATE....

I have my VISA!!!! 

There is no turning back now. I'm 2 1/2 weeks away from my big adventure. India here I come! 

Ok, with all that excitement out... I am also getting a little nervous. But that is perfectly normal right? At least that's what I keep telling myself. The unknown is a little invigorating though. Hearing about my brother's trip to Egypt and Mike's trip to Japan also gets me going. I'm so glad that they are both having a great experience and I can't wait to see what the Lord has for me when I arrive in Dharamsala. Just waiting on that placement... hopefully it will be emailed this week!

This past week we were all sent an email/survey to fill out for the people that we will be working with during the weeks that we will be in India, aka our housemates. Another thing that I am super excited about. I love meeting knew people and making new friends! It sounds like there will be a lot of people my age there too and most of them are up for some hiking in the himalayas! (I just had the lyric from that Ricky Martin song pop in my head...weird.) I will be working with people from ALL over... Canada, Australia, Europe, and various parts of the U.S. How sweet is that?!?

Still struggling with the whole Hindi thing... I need a private tutor. 

On to other things... 

My girls won the district championship this year! Woot woot! It was great and they deserved it. I was so proud of them. Regionals was a hard fought battle and it was sad to say goodbye to the 11 seniors on the team, but new journeys await them as they move on to the college years. I was so blessed to have been able to coach such a great group of girls though... I really was. 

The flower shop is officially closed. BUT they are still doing fresh flowers... so if you ever need anything of the sort give J.Alexander's a call! The lines are open for business!

I was home over the weekend for a little while but it was so much fun. First of all, I got to see Tressa and Curt!! It was one of those days that seeing good friends was exactly what we all needed. THEN.. we were fortunate enough to see and experience the beginnings of the city slicker migration to the "north," as they call it.. when in reality we all know that the thumb is geographically along the midline of the state of Michigan. 

I'm starting to pack up my stuff in the apartment. Can we say nightmare? I wish I had magic powers... 

Rush tryouts are this week and next week.. I can't wait to see my girls. They're so great! 

Tonight I'm going to Mongolian BBQ with Di Di!! SO, SO EXCITED! She just got home and told me that we have a tornado watch... maybe we can storm chase... 

Welp, off we go!

I've decided to end each post with an inspirational quote for y'all... here's today's gift..

"Keep your face always towards the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you."

-Walt Whitman 

P.S. As pointed out by Diana today... We graduated from high school 6 years ago today.. June 8th. Now, that's crazy.

"And that all I can think about is how long I've been waiting to feel you move me..."

"Close my eyes and hold my heart
Cover me and make me something
Change this something normal
Into something beautiful"

It's finally summer in Michigan! The warm weather has arrived and I even got a little sun today! I sat outside of my apartment on my oversized purple blanket with my computer and my books and had a wonderful time! Diana even joined me for a little while after she got back from the store. After that it was off to coffee with Jen, Di, and Sophie at Jackson Coffee Company. It was my first experience. I had a Shamrock White Mocha (blended) and it was awesome. While we were standing in line, there was a sign that read... "Unattended Children will be given a shot of expresso and a puppy." Haha. Just a little amusement for the day...

After I got back from a beautiful day at practice, it was time for what seems to become an annual event... BBQ with Jen and Kev! We had sweet corn, brats, and hamburgs all fresh off the grill. It was delicious. Thank you Kevin for risking your life among the hot coals to grill us up some grub. Well done, champ. And yes, we checked, his eyebrows are in tact and accounted for.

I also got to read about Mike's adventure in Japan today! How exciting! AND I heard from my little brother in Egypt!! Also, very exciting!! YAY! It sounds like they are both having fun so far. I just get so excited for people traveling and experiencing other cultures. That is one of the things about Spring Arbor that I am extremely grateful for. The cross cultural program is such a great opportunity that you can not replace. 

Finally, Eric Rudland called me yesterday and I have been struggling with decisions. He needs to know what I am planning on doing for next fall. Although I would really love to coach my girls again.. I just don't know what else I would do here. The AD at Jackson Christian has offered me the coaching job for the JV boys program as well but I just don't know if I can stay in Jackson for another season. It all depends. Right now I am not clear as to what I want or what I am supposed to do. So, I guess my plan of action would be to tell Eric to give the job to someone else and if I end up being around in the fall I can help out here and there. Does this sound plausible? I don't want to accept a job, not knowing what the next few months will bring and then having to back out and leave the girls without a coach. On the other hand, when I come back from India... so far I do not have a job... and I will not have a lot of money to relocate. So, the other option is to take the two coaching jobs, find a place to stay in Jackson for 3 months and then be on my merry way. This way I can earn some money when I come back to the States and look to move on from there... come November. Ahhh.. sometimes life decisions are annoying. I know the Lord will use me wherever I end up but what if I make the wrong decision? What if I am holding back? These "What If" questions are driving me crazy! So feel free to advise me... I would like to hear some opinions by those who know me best. :) As for now, all I know is that I am leaving for India on June 26th and returning in August. No plans after that but I am getting really excited! 

Bonus Feature...

The other day I was working with Sam (my manager). We were packing up the back room and finding places in the store for all the hidden little trinkets. Anyway... enter boisterous middle aged woman. I knew she was trouble the moment I heard her start talking, because from that moment on she didn't stop. Talking about her beach house and heading to a wedding.. I didn't get all the details. Sam was the lucky one. So Sam starts helping her while I am stocking one of the shelves a few feet away. I tried to block out her obnoxiousness but I couldn't help but catch little parts of the conversation. Sam later told me the entirety of the encounter. Apparently the woman was a pastor and she was doing a wedding this weekend somewhere. When asked about the sale Sam told her that we were going out of business but Hope was still going to carry on the fresh flower part of the business.... "Well, let me get a business card because people are always asking me where to go for flowers and such for their weddings," was the woman's reply. Little did Sam know what she was getting into. Sam fished out a business card from the back room and the woman was ready with hers when Sam returned. She had not one but a bunch of cards fanned out in her hand like a magician ready to perform a card trick. She says..."Pick one. There's a gift on the other side." Sam was a little apprehensive at this point but did as the lady instructed. She slowly picked a card and turned it over to see what was waiting for her on the other side. Before she had the chance to read it the lady snatched the card out of her hand and her expression turned into that of concern. In a grim voice she revealed the gift.. "You got Owl Medicine. That means deception. Someone is deceiving you. Probably at night. Do you know any night owls?" Sam didn't know what to do. The lady proceeded to recite a poem and told Sam that only Sam knew what it meant, she was just the messenger. The woman finally left and when Sam looked at her card a little closer it said she was a pastor but a medium, fortune teller, etc. Wow. I'll just let you soak that all in. It was definitely a unique experience (and somewhat humorous). 

"A father to the orphan, a healer to the broken... This is our God."

Weekend update continued...

Saturday...

Work. Work. Work. 

Busy. Busy. Busy.

If you haven't heard. J.Alexanders florist of Jackson is going out of business. That means huge sales, which in turn means we have more business in one day than we've had over the past year. So busy, in fact, that I was at work 45 minutes after closing as I was watching over a few stragglers. Gotta love the customers that come in 5 minutes before closing.. "just to look." Oh goodness...

After work, I called Angela. We decided to get together and go out for an Indian dinner in Ann Arbor. So, I hopped in the trusty Grand Am and headed East. I met Ang and Dave at their apartment and we headed downtown to Raja Rani. Let me just tell you the food was AWESOME! It was Dave's idea to get the dinner for three so we could try a bit of everything.. kudos to you Dave, that was a grand idea. Here's what we had...

Indian Spiced Tea... Excellent

Tandoori Chicken.. very good but the fluorescent red color is a little intimidating

Lamb Curry... my first experience with lamb, it went well.

Navrattan Korma... awesome veggie dish with a spicy sauce, Ang & I decided it was our favorite

Naan... the most amazing bread EVER!

Raita... I think this was the cole slaw type stuff but it had the worst after taste

Dessert.. Rice pudding or Mango ice cream. Ang & I had the ice cream... two thumbs up. Dave had rice pudding he let us try it... also very good.

It was such an awesome dinner! I was so excited and it was really fun to try and figure out what we were eating... because we really had no idea. For example, one of the appetizers I ate was fried but the breading was shaped a little like a goldfish... luckily it turned out to be some type of fritter. Whew! I told Ang and Dave I felt like we were food critics as we sat at our little corner table by the window and discussed what each bite tasted like. So fun. 

After dinner we went to rent a movie. We decided on 7 pounds. Although it was a little depressing, it was very well written. It took awhile to develop but I thought it was pretty good. What a great night with some really great friends! 

Sunday.

Once again. 

Work. Work. Work. 

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Lots of sales and lots of people staying past closing. Oh well. It doesn't bother me that much, just as long as they are polite. One lady came in and I helped her find what she was looking for and then had a little chat with her about her dog that she rescued from an abusive home. She was such a great lady. When I finished ringing her up, I told her to have a nice day and she told me "Oh I already have. You've just made my day!" I just stood there and thought for awhile. I didn't even do anything. All I did was take a little time to listen to her stories and talk to her. Funny how simple things like that can bless another person's life and you don't even realize it. All it takes is a little effort.

On to our soccer game at the Ella. Jen and I both scored and our team dominated. However, we didn't clinch the championship title this year. No free t-shirt... :( Oh well, it's always fun to get out and play even if it isn't the best competition. At least you get to meet some really interesting people. 

That's it for the weekend update... until next time.

"And he brings peace to our madness and comfort to our sadness...This is our God"

Friday. 

The day started off early since I was called into sub at Jackson Christian. I was teaching Jr. High Science/Gym and had one class of high school gym. It actually ended up being an easy day because the 8th graders were gone for a field trip. That meant no first hour, third hour prep, no 4th hour and no 5th hour....so on to high school gym, second hour. Kickball was on the day's agenda. Ahhh.. takes me back to elementary school. Anyway... we were having a grand old time outside playing some good ol' American kickball and then one of the boys kicked a foul ball. Little did I know the events that were about to unfold...

Mr. Howdyshell, who serves as a math teacher/athletic event bus driver, was out getting the buses ready for the track meet and soccer game scheduled for later that evening. He stopped to watch the game for awhile. That's when things went foul... literally. As I was standing on the first base line I watched the ball go foul and made the appropriate call (I'm such a good umpire..:)) Then instead of someone going to fetch the ball to resume play, I heard someone kick it. I turned slightly only to see a blue rubber sphere taking up my entire line of sight. 

Impact. 

It nailed me right in the side of the face. I had to concentrate really hard not to fall over. The kids laughed and clapped and added that they wished they had a video camera so I could be published on Utube. Embarrassing, but what are you going to do. I just laughed. I laughed even harder when I found out it was Mr. Howdyshell that kicked the ball. The whole school knew by lunch time but it didn't turn out so bad... Mr. Howdyshell bought me pizza for lunch. Like I said.. never a dull moment at JCS.

After a long day of kickball and some battling with Jr. Highers, it was off to Washtenaw Christian for the girls soccer game. Let's just clarify that this is the field that we are going to play on for districts. We arrived after 2 detours.. gotta love Michigan construction, and the lines appeared to waiver because the ground was so bumpy.. AND half the field was mowed and half wasn't. Umm.. wonderful. 

Then I want to just share a story to give you an idea of the refs we had. Our keeper got a yellow card for saving the ball and running into a player. She turned her back before she hit her so she wouldn't get kicked in the face and she was awarded a yellow card. If that isn't confusing enough... after the call he gave us a goal kick! WHAT?!? Clearly, he had no idea what he was doing. I hope he doesn't come back for districts. 

On to the positives... We won 8-2 and one of my girls scored on a header! Yay! 

It was back to the homeland to get ready to go see Mike and Korey at SAU Baccalaureate. Yay for graduating! It was great to see them and their families and other friends like Zuz, Stroh, and CJ. After it was over the Yoders invited me to pizza, where we met up with Shari, and a trip to Wal-mart. It was great fun. I love that family. They're great. After our adventures, Shari came back to stay at my apartment for some great conversation and a good night's rest. 

More weekend update to come...

 

"On the wings of the morning, hope is rising..."

"We will rise on the wings of the morning 
Though we hide, hide in the shadows of the night 
There is hope, hope in the hands that have made us 
And are holding us tight."

So again... it's been awhile. I actually wrote this really long post earlier today and then my computer died. Talk about frustrating. I had to take a break before trying to complete it again.. so here we go. 

Well let's start with early last week. I played secretary for Jackson Christian for a couple days. That was fun.  It also happened to be staff appreciation week and I got free food. BONUS! It was delicious. I had to do a couple of announcements over the PA. Talk about anxiety attacks. I hate doing PA announcements. In fact most of the time I write down what I am going to say so I don't freeze in mid sentence and sound like a complete idiot. Other than that, I answered phones, dealt with a nose bleed and a few sickies, and wrote passes for all those late comers. It's always an interesting day at Jackson Christian. 

My girls soccer team has been in a little slump lately. One of our games last week was against Springport. I had never been to Springport but as soon as I got off the exit and drove by the pig farm, I immediately thought I had been teleported back to Huron County. The school was in the middle of a field, the team's strategy was kick and run, AND the fans were yelling things like "Send her!" and "Boot it!" Oh the good ol' HC... it was quite nostalgic, actually. The girls were a little discouraged after losing that game so we had a re-focusing session at practice. I think it went pretty well and we did decent at our tournament on Saturday. We ended up coming in 2nd. 

Thursday and Friday I spent working at the flower shop getting ready for Mother's Day. WOW. I thought Valentines Day was bad. I had no idea! Plus it is prom season so we had those orders on top of Mother's Day. 

For our Mother's Day celebration, my parents came down to watch part of my tournament on Saturday and then we went out to eat at Olive Garden. Diana came with us too... after all she is basically part of our family. Anyway we had to wait quite awhile.. it being Mother's Day and Prom night. While we were waiting for our table some of our Rush players/my Western students walked in. We said hello and they seemed pretty excited to see us and then proceeded to demand a picture. So yes, Di and I were in a prom picture. 

1. Weird. 

2. Wow. We're old. 

It was fun to see the girls though. I'm going to miss them. 

After we finally were seated... dinner was great! I love Italian food. 

At church we talked about Mother's Day and how it is a great day for some but also very hard for others. I immediately thought of my player Renee who was killed in a car accident in January. I felt for her mom and her family. Diana had also mentioned how her coworker Mickey was having a rough weekend since she had lost a son in the past year. I can't even imagine what it's like. I am blessed with a great family that I can celebrate with but I also need to remember those who aren't as fortunate and who are suffering. 

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn." Romans 12:15

I had a soccer game this past weekend with the Ella Sharp Rec League. Apparently no one showed up this week and when I got there at half time (due to coaching at the tournament) we had been playing a player down. We were still winning 1-0. I got there and we were at full strength. Jen and I had a sweet connection going. There were a few times where we connected 2 or 3 one touch passes in a row and then Jen had a corner kick and I scored with a header! It was great! Took me back to high school when I would score off of Di's corner kicks. Not that we were playing against super competition but it was still awesome! My one complaint about the game was that I was playing on the outside against this 40 year old woman who would stiff arm me across the face when going for the ball. Oh, I was getting so mad! By the end of the game I had two big cuts on the inside of my bottom lip and my top lip was swollen from getting hit. Grrr. But in all honesty, after I scored that header I didn't care one bit. 

My most recent news is that I found out my Grandpa was admitted to the hospital. About a month ago, he was scratched by a cat when he was giving it the anesthesia to spay it. Anyway he put disinfectant on it when it happened but it didn't quite do the trick. The infection spread and his whole arm swelled. I went home to visit him and he is doing much better. He isn't very happy about staying in the hospital until Friday though. He's not one to just sit around and he is getting a little bored. To help, I took him a Where's Waldo book. :)

I will write more often from now on... I promise.

"Your mercy reigns, your mercy comes, your mercy falls and rises with the sun..."

"... it's new every morning, it's new every morning, it's good enough for me."

This song by Shane & Shane came on when I hit mile 6 and my quad felt like it was tearing in half. Needless to say, I was begging for mercy. And it came in the form of a water station where I grabbed a cup of orange gatorade from a happy volunteer 

and sipped some of the magic which gave me the boost to push through the pain. 

So it's a week overdue but here are the details from my experience running in the Charlottesville Half Marathon last Saturday (April 18th 2009). Enjoy.

#2166. I picked up my race packet from the Charlottesville Running Company in downtown Charlottesville the evening before the race. Downtown was swarming with people due to the marathon and apparently good ole Dave Matthews was in town for a concert at UVA. Korey Canfield and I used Mike's GPS to find a nearby seafood restaurant (I am convinced that seafood makes me run better... I've tested it) for my pre-race dinner. Bonefish Grill was the winner.. and delectable. I highly recommend the tilapia with the mango sauce and the jasmine herb rice. Anyway Korey and I had a room at a bed and breakfast near downtown which was sufficient for our one night stay. We got back to the cottage and I went straight to bed... except I couldn't sleep. I was too excited/nervous/anxious. I don't know what I was.. I just knew I was going to be running 13.1 miles at 6:30 the next morning. What was I thinking...

I beat my alarm and was up at 5:00am. I took a shower to make sure I was alert and ready for the morning's endeavor. I ventured into the kitchen to make myself a fuel filled breakfast which consisted of a peanut butter whole wheat bagel, a banana, a Nature Valley granola bar, and some sweet iced tea. I was feeling good. Six o'clock came around and Korey was up and ready to take me to my race. She dropped me off at the starting line and snapped some pictures as I took my place in the pack. There were so many people and I didn't know anyone. I didn't take much time to really talk to very many people either... I was too worried about what I had gotten myself into. 

The sun was barely rising when the starting bell rang. Two thousand some people slowly funneled their way through the narrow street and the madness was officially underway. I plugged myself into my mom's iPod shuffle (which she let me borrow for the weekend) and there was no turning back. I spent the first couple miles taking it all in. Employees of the local businesses lined the streets and people leaned out their second story apartment windows to cheer for us as we ran by. It was great! Then, the hunt began. I needed to find a pace partner/running buddy (this was part of Mitch's advice when I saw him the night before at EMU). It took me awhile but by mile 3 I had spotted my victims. They were two girls who

looked about my age and were going about the same pace that I had been training at for the past couple months. They looked like they were pretty serious about the race too so I knew they would help keep me motivated, and they did. Pace partner(s)... check. 

Dodging the sporadic puddles of saliva on the pavement, I ran past the university... I made my way over a bridge with the highway below 

my feet... I ran into the countryside where white fences lined the country road... I ran past trickling streams,

fields full of freshly bailed hay, and pink blooming dogwood trees. It was a beautiful landscape to run through... it really was. 

But then again.. at this particular time in my life... I did not see the beauty in the Virginian hills. Normally, I would. I love to see changes in elevation since I've been sheltered living in Michigan all my life. However, as I was running the race, a feeling of agony would be more appropriate. There were quite a few little hills throughout the course which were a decent challenge but nothing I couldn't handle. Then came Mount Saint Oh-My-Gosh-I'm-Going-to-Die. I had been running through a shaded area where there were streams and pretty trees that made a sort of canopy over the road. I had just finished mile 4. I was feeling great. My feelings of tranquility were abruptly interrupted when I emerged from the woods, turned the corner and saw the 3/4 mile hill staring back at me. I immediately had a flash back to my college preseasons in Traverse City and all I could do was laugh. Here we go.

I summited and this is the part where my quad was about to snap in half... but the magic orange gatorade saved the day and I was on my way to victory once again.

I made it to the turnaround mark and pitied the marathon runners who had a good 20 miles ahead of them. I was glad I only had 6 more to go. Making my way back through the country was probably the hardest part of the race. I had to make my way back down the mountain that I had climbed about a mile and a half earlier and I was struggling to keep my pace (even though I was still following my pace partners). I had to stop on mile 10 for a quick stretch. I told myself I would not stop for more than a minute. By 45 seconds, I was back on the move.  A couple days before I left I was talking to Kevin and his advice was to "keep the pace." I kept telling myself this for the entirety of the race, especially the last 3 miles. Running is a mental battle for me so it helped me stay focused. Keep the pace... check.

The route changed course as I entered the city limits. To finish we were guided to run through the campus of UVA. They even had part of the marching band playing for us as we ran past the tennis courts. It made me smile. I was getting really excited... I was almost there! It was time to leave my pace partners behind. I didn't know where it was coming from but I had so much energy! Maybe I spoke too soon because there they were again... those darn hills! There was a volunteer at the bottom of the last hill on the course who was overly jubilant. I think this was strategic. Ma

ybe they thought if we saw how much energy he had we would forget that we had been running for 2 hours and not be irritated that there was a hill less than a mile from the finish line. 

No matter. I was almost there and I was determined to finish hard. I sprinted the last half mile. It wasn't a full out sprint but it was as fast as I could go after running 12 miles. I couldn't feel my legs but I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face. I was in pain but I felt so good. 

As I made my way past the finish, they collected my time chip off my shoe, handed me a bottle of water and Sobe vitamin water and awarded me my medal. YAY! Korey was there to document my finish and capture the exhaustion afterward. I was glad she was 

there.

I did it. 

2:17:40

I went. I ran. I conquered.