Hey, my parents aren't here!! Wow, it's almost like school again, except my roommates are my siblings and I have a heck of a lot of yardwork instead of homework to do.
So, I spent a total of 8 hours doing yardwork yesterday. The lawnmower has been broken for a couple of weeks and we just got a new one so the entire lawn needs to be mowed. That's going to take forever. Just one half of the front yard took me 6 hours to do with most of the weedwacking on that side (I have about a half acre of lawn scattered about the property). The other side was supposed to get done today but I ended up working at the other house today for 5 and 1/2 hours doing....(drumroll)...weeding and landscaping!! Why is it I can't excape it? Just a day after killing myself at home I don't get to paint, or put up siding, I get to pull grass again. I was awfully successful at making myself so sore that I can barely bend over and I hardly have the dexterity to type, let alone play the piano.
ARGH!! I hate cramming in as much work as you can into one week. I'll come out with a good paycheck but I'm going to be so tired all the time that I won't be as motivated come work next week. Well, we're supposed to see Batman Begins sometime this week and this weekend I'm going to be hanging out with Cara and George (YAY!!!!). Then in two weeks Tim from Northwest is getting married and my godfather hasn't returned my call on if I can stay at his ranch for a couple of days before the wedding. I so hope he says yes! I'll get to work for a couple of hours a day and ride horses the rest of the time!!! It's been a while since I've been on a horse for any length of time. I really miss it.
Actually, the last time I was on one of uncle Abel's horses she threw me off and I have never been in so much pain in my whole life. That was an interesting experience but I'm ready to do it again.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Friday, June 10, 2005
toothpaste...
During these weeks that I am at home interacting with my lovely family again I have the tiring and constant job of learning how to appreciate someone even when you don't really like them. How to see past someone's constant shortfalls and inconsiderations to anyone other than themselves and love them with a Christ-like love. How to thank God for someone's influence in your life when you find out your favorite pair of socks is dirty again when you didn't wear them, and how to do that EVERY TIME there is a situation like the proverbial "tube of toothpaste".
I have to constantly remind myself of what God must go through when watching me be selfish, inconsiderate, and impolite to Him, the creator of the universe that has and always will be trying to win my heart like whomever will be my future husband. He is the cosmic lover of my soul and I constantly disregard him. As a more..."down-to-earth"...reminder, I think of it as a training and practicing ground for when I am married. The role of a woman is not to change her man, force him to squeeze the toothpaste the same way she does, but learn how to live with someone with a different personality and giftings from the Lord and honor him...even LIKE him...irregardless.
On a slightly different note, please pray for Loren, Katherine, and I as we will be home alone for all of next week while our parents are out vacationing alone(!!!). (It was so hard to get them to go! My mom doesn't know how to take a vacation. I think she needs some more practice...) Anyway, please pray that Loren will be responsible with himself and his friends while our parents are out of town, and that my sister and I will be able to connect more...actually that we would all be able to connect more and that this won't be an opportunity for satan to thrown in some discord via irresponsibility.
Thank you all for your support!
I have to constantly remind myself of what God must go through when watching me be selfish, inconsiderate, and impolite to Him, the creator of the universe that has and always will be trying to win my heart like whomever will be my future husband. He is the cosmic lover of my soul and I constantly disregard him. As a more..."down-to-earth"...reminder, I think of it as a training and practicing ground for when I am married. The role of a woman is not to change her man, force him to squeeze the toothpaste the same way she does, but learn how to live with someone with a different personality and giftings from the Lord and honor him...even LIKE him...irregardless.
On a slightly different note, please pray for Loren, Katherine, and I as we will be home alone for all of next week while our parents are out vacationing alone(!!!). (It was so hard to get them to go! My mom doesn't know how to take a vacation. I think she needs some more practice...) Anyway, please pray that Loren will be responsible with himself and his friends while our parents are out of town, and that my sister and I will be able to connect more...actually that we would all be able to connect more and that this won't be an opportunity for satan to thrown in some discord via irresponsibility.
Thank you all for your support!
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Good vs. Bad...again
Well, I got good news and bad news again. Good news first, this time: My mom got some more detailed medical updates and apparently her treatments for her liver and colon are incredibly affective. PRAISE THE LORD!! Her mercury levels are also down, but she still has to work on the petroleum levels. My dad is also going to get some updated tests as well so I'll post those when they come in.
Bad news (kindof not...) : the reason my mom has been rather off the handle recently is because she has a brain virus. She hasn't been able to think straight or stay focused and she's had some dizzy spells. Apparently it is highly treatable so she should be feeling better within a couple of days and treatments will last for about a month after that.
Thank God for the Psalms! I find it awfully encouraging that David felt differently on different days. That makes me feel a little bit normal. Today is a good day!
(Hey, a short..er blog!)
Bad news (kindof not...) : the reason my mom has been rather off the handle recently is because she has a brain virus. She hasn't been able to think straight or stay focused and she's had some dizzy spells. Apparently it is highly treatable so she should be feeling better within a couple of days and treatments will last for about a month after that.
Thank God for the Psalms! I find it awfully encouraging that David felt differently on different days. That makes me feel a little bit normal. Today is a good day!
(Hey, a short..er blog!)
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Good vs. Bad
I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Bad news first: I talked with my mom and it didn't exactly go over well. She, of course, is blaming a combination of her circumstances and us not working hard enough. Yes, I could be working longer hours outside, but that is on the condition that she wants me to work hard two days and then be an invalid for a week waiting for my hands to heal from all the blisters!! I haven't done yardwork in like 9 months! What more does she expect from me?
Jeez! Why does everything have to revolve around me? I know that she knows I am doing my best. I just get the flak because she trusts in me so much. Sometimes I wish that I wasn't her confidant just so she couldn't dump on me like this. Argh! I wish I grew some thicker skin or a more waterproof coat so things like this didn't affect me so much. I know I'm going to have to deal with things like this on a daily basis when I get married. "You just have to give all the little things up to God to deal with because you can't deal with every little thing". I wish that was so easy to do. Oh, well. I'm also told "practice makes perfect". I guess God thinks I need more practice. Well, here goes!
Finally, for the good news: I was contacted by a longtime friend and working partner asking me to be the full time interpreter for the Seattle Union Gospel Mission Senior's Camp this summer!! Yay. I worked with the camp for three summers as a part-time interpreter and I couldn't go last year because the camp was after school started. Summer ministry opportunity #1. It's only three days so it's rather short in comparison to the week long trips to Mexico but I'm still grateful for the opportunity. The great thing is that this year I will interpret everything, the lessons, the devotionals, the conversations, the games....before now I only interpreted the conversations (interpersonally).
Well, I hope this helps remind me to replace the Spanish-English dictionary I lost in Mexico last year. I had forgotten for a long time that it was stolen so for the entire school year I was looking for my lost dictionary! I just remembered yesterday what actually happened to it! Flaky me!
(one of these days I'm also going to learn how to post a short blog)
Jeez! Why does everything have to revolve around me? I know that she knows I am doing my best. I just get the flak because she trusts in me so much. Sometimes I wish that I wasn't her confidant just so she couldn't dump on me like this. Argh! I wish I grew some thicker skin or a more waterproof coat so things like this didn't affect me so much. I know I'm going to have to deal with things like this on a daily basis when I get married. "You just have to give all the little things up to God to deal with because you can't deal with every little thing". I wish that was so easy to do. Oh, well. I'm also told "practice makes perfect". I guess God thinks I need more practice. Well, here goes!
Finally, for the good news: I was contacted by a longtime friend and working partner asking me to be the full time interpreter for the Seattle Union Gospel Mission Senior's Camp this summer!! Yay. I worked with the camp for three summers as a part-time interpreter and I couldn't go last year because the camp was after school started. Summer ministry opportunity #1. It's only three days so it's rather short in comparison to the week long trips to Mexico but I'm still grateful for the opportunity. The great thing is that this year I will interpret everything, the lessons, the devotionals, the conversations, the games....before now I only interpreted the conversations (interpersonally).
Well, I hope this helps remind me to replace the Spanish-English dictionary I lost in Mexico last year. I had forgotten for a long time that it was stolen so for the entire school year I was looking for my lost dictionary! I just remembered yesterday what actually happened to it! Flaky me!
(one of these days I'm also going to learn how to post a short blog)
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
R-E-L-A-X PLEASE!!!
I really don't like living at home anymore. I began to figure that out over the school year so I stopped coming home on the weekends during second semester. Home life is so stressed. My parents are trying another business venture (which will probably work out because it's based in real-estate this time and not the internet) but my mom is getting to her "about to crack" stage where you can never know how she's going to react to something that happens or anything you say. Just this morning she discovered that we missed the Lippizanners(sp?) performance in Everett on the 4th because mom thought it was in July and not June. We spent over 100$ on the tickets and have been looking for an opportunity to go since I first read about them something like ten years ago. She was so crushed.
I completely understand why she was crushed and it was completely appropriate but it was just another thing that happened on top of everything else and she stormed off to her room and had a good cry. I had a good chat with my sister Kimberlie over MSN and in the meantime figured out a good deal of what was going on. After I realized what mom was doing to cope Kim suggested that I talk with mom and tell her how she can better her methods of coping with stress and how her current methods are affecting me.
I like doing odd jobs at the house, I have even forgotten to log my hours (because now they're paying me for what used to be counted as "chores"). I don't mind that mom has piled all the housework and yardwork on me for the summer. That's fine!! But she won't take that pile of responsibility off herself. She has no peace, no calm, no reassurance that things are going to get done because now I'm home. I am the hard-worker of the bunch and I have taken care of the entire house and yard by myself before. I know how to do it but mom is not taking it off of herself. She's just multiplying the workload instead of delegating and dividing it out. It's all in her mind and it's affecting the rest of us, especially me. I know that she is happy when I get something done but then she just reminds me of five other things that need to get done and I have to keep reminding her "I will get to that. Relax!"
I think that once she realizes how she's just multiplying the tasks in her head then she will do a lot better. Well, off to pray and formulate my appeal, do something productive to get her in a better mood, and have a sit-down chat....
I completely understand why she was crushed and it was completely appropriate but it was just another thing that happened on top of everything else and she stormed off to her room and had a good cry. I had a good chat with my sister Kimberlie over MSN and in the meantime figured out a good deal of what was going on. After I realized what mom was doing to cope Kim suggested that I talk with mom and tell her how she can better her methods of coping with stress and how her current methods are affecting me.
I like doing odd jobs at the house, I have even forgotten to log my hours (because now they're paying me for what used to be counted as "chores"). I don't mind that mom has piled all the housework and yardwork on me for the summer. That's fine!! But she won't take that pile of responsibility off herself. She has no peace, no calm, no reassurance that things are going to get done because now I'm home. I am the hard-worker of the bunch and I have taken care of the entire house and yard by myself before. I know how to do it but mom is not taking it off of herself. She's just multiplying the workload instead of delegating and dividing it out. It's all in her mind and it's affecting the rest of us, especially me. I know that she is happy when I get something done but then she just reminds me of five other things that need to get done and I have to keep reminding her "I will get to that. Relax!"
I think that once she realizes how she's just multiplying the tasks in her head then she will do a lot better. Well, off to pray and formulate my appeal, do something productive to get her in a better mood, and have a sit-down chat....
Saturday, June 04, 2005
The WEEKEND
So, I guess I have some time now to post about last weekend at George’s house. WHAT FUN!!! The first day we got there (Katie and anyone else who is squeamish about hunting should skip this paragraph…) we went hunting…for cute, fluffy bunny rabbits…(that’s a Katie quote). The first property we went to I saw a couple of rabbits but George was the only person to peg one. He then tried to clean it and exclaimed "funny how the pastor is cleaning the nasty rabbit while the nursing students watch!" so I ended up taking over and cleaning the rabbit. We then went to a second property where George hit one rabbit in the side and then we lost it in the bushes. I then hunted through the entire valley floor and shot about ten shots and missed every time. Later after waiting for the rabbits to come out again I made a perfect shot and hit a rabbit in the back of the head. Oh, how wonderful to make my first kill!! We then skinned them (he is going to tan my rabbit’s pelt because he ruined the other one) and roasted them over the fire. Rabbit is rather tasty, more flavor than chicken, but pretty similar as long as you don’t smoke it too long.
Enough on my hunting experiences….
We also went to a drive-in movie theatre and all crammed in the back of Bryan’s truck (I think everyone fell asleep at some point during the second movie), we went to the mud flats and threw mud at each other, dug clams and forgot about them until they died, went to the open house and toured the X-Craft "Seafighter" (the fastest commercial/military ship ever) because George’s dad built the thing at his shipyard, watched movies, played games, and explored Camp Casey.
Overall the weekend was AWESOME!! I love my friends and the wonderful fellowship we have together. Ps. 133:1 – How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
I can’t wait for the 4th of July weekend when we’re all going to be together again, this time at Cara’s cabin in Cle Elum.
Enough on my hunting experiences….
We also went to a drive-in movie theatre and all crammed in the back of Bryan’s truck (I think everyone fell asleep at some point during the second movie), we went to the mud flats and threw mud at each other, dug clams and forgot about them until they died, went to the open house and toured the X-Craft "Seafighter" (the fastest commercial/military ship ever) because George’s dad built the thing at his shipyard, watched movies, played games, and explored Camp Casey.
Overall the weekend was AWESOME!! I love my friends and the wonderful fellowship we have together. Ps. 133:1 – How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
I can’t wait for the 4th of July weekend when we’re all going to be together again, this time at Cara’s cabin in Cle Elum.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Updates
Well, I started working at my parent's house that they bought to fix up and resell for profit. I painted a room so far and I'm probably going to be doing a lot more painting in the future. I'm just so excited that I have a steady job for the summer.
I also found out that I can't work at the VBS at my home church because my parents need me to work and I can't do the VBS at Waldport, Or. because they already have too many volunteers for that trip. I guess the Lord has something else in mind for me this summer. It is really disapointing that I can't go on the outreach because now I know some of the kids in town after doing the same trip for two years in a row but I also know that the Lord sovereignly has my summer in his hands and as long as I trust in Him then he might open up opportunities that I hadn't even imagined like last summer.
This weekend I spent five days at George's house on Whidbey Island with my best friends from school. The weekend was AWESOME!! Unfortunately, I have to write about the weekend a little later because I have to go to bed now so I can work tomorrow at the other house.
Oh, before I forget, thank you everyone for your prayers and support, my mom had some updated tests returned today and she is showing signs of improvement. Praise the Lord!! Unfortunately, my dad has not even completed enough of his therapies to get an updated report yet, but he is improving in keeping up with his vitamins and therapies. Please pray for them if ever you think of me.
I love you all!!
I also found out that I can't work at the VBS at my home church because my parents need me to work and I can't do the VBS at Waldport, Or. because they already have too many volunteers for that trip. I guess the Lord has something else in mind for me this summer. It is really disapointing that I can't go on the outreach because now I know some of the kids in town after doing the same trip for two years in a row but I also know that the Lord sovereignly has my summer in his hands and as long as I trust in Him then he might open up opportunities that I hadn't even imagined like last summer.
This weekend I spent five days at George's house on Whidbey Island with my best friends from school. The weekend was AWESOME!! Unfortunately, I have to write about the weekend a little later because I have to go to bed now so I can work tomorrow at the other house.
Oh, before I forget, thank you everyone for your prayers and support, my mom had some updated tests returned today and she is showing signs of improvement. Praise the Lord!! Unfortunately, my dad has not even completed enough of his therapies to get an updated report yet, but he is improving in keeping up with his vitamins and therapies. Please pray for them if ever you think of me.
I love you all!!
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