Going Pro!

I went bowling tonight with some friends. We bowled two games, and my scores were average (for me)... 112 and 138, I think. But... I ended the first game with three strikes! Then, I started the next game with three strikes!!

You can tell by my overall scores that I'm NOT a great bowler, so that was a pretty exciting run... two turkeys for the evening!

Hope your evening was just as eventful!

R-Day

Well... today's the day. My new roommate... housemate, actually, is moving in. It's been quite awhile since I've lived with anyone... eight years exactly. So, it could be quite an adventure!

Other events of the week... I had a nice allergic reaction on my FACE this week. I think it may have been some wayware jalapeno juice. (I made mango salsa last weekend.) I think it's finally subsided (thankfully!). I had some nice bags under my eyes. :3) ---> (that's me with bags under my eyes)

I'm sure I have other news, but it's not coming to mind right now.

All Your Base Are Belong to Us!

Dave's post made me think of the subject line. AYBABTU has an interesting history.

For more Engrish...

Who's in charge here?

Our pastor at The Gathering is out this week, so when we had two odd men show up tonight and ask me "who is in charge here," I was forced to answer... "um... I suppose that would be me." One of the guys was there to serve someone with divorce papers. The other man was his "bodyguard."

I didn't recognize the name of the woman they were supposed to serve, and they seemed to think she was somewhat mentally unstable and could go into some kind of rage. Geesh... just what we need at a Sunday night service... when I'm pseudo-in-charge. I finally convinced them to step back into the office (out of the lobby where everyone was entering). I talked to them a bit more and finally pulled in one of the guys to assist me. We felt pretty certain (due to the information they gave us) that this person has never been to The Gathering and probably would not be there tonight. I guess they finally believed us, because they finally left without a scene.

Very strange. I wonder what right a religious establishment has to protect its members from being served divorce papers directly before or during a service?

Christmas in July

So, I drove down to Falls Creek yesterday morning. Half of my family was there with the youth from Parkway Baptist Church in KCK. So, I went down, met them for lunch, hung out, spent the night and left to come home this morning. Overall it was an enjoyable trip. Natalie is cute as ever! However, during the night, two people were sick and vomiting. (Mom had apparently been sick earlier in the week.) Michelle was one... she was up two or three times during the night, and apparently one of the youth boys was, too. So, they seemed to be dropping like flies this morning, as another girl was feeling ill. It reminded me of this past Christmas, when we spent the whole time passing around a stomach virus. I think I've avoided this one. However, it seems to strike mainly at night. So... I guess I'll let you know in the morning!

Ion... I grilled myself a fine dinner tonight... chicken with a sort of peach glaze on it. I also grilled peaches and corn with it. It turned out pretty good, though I either didn't let the coals "cook" long enough or something... seems like it took forever to finish everything. I even put the chicken in the oven for a bit after taking it off the grill. But, it was all yumsters. And... I have leftovers for days to come. :) I also cut up more stuff for mango salsa. I guess I was feeling fairly domestic today!

The Pop-In

Well... Brett (see two posts back) popped his head into my office today. He asked if he could use a phone. I asked him how he's been doing, and it sounds like his friend has put him up for the time being.

He didn't talk long but thanked me for the water the other day. Then he was gone.

The Protected Heart

I found this poem, scribbled on a yellow Post-It note. I'm not sure when I wrote it, but I thought you might enjoy it....

The Protected Heart

The protected heart - what an undeserved blessing!

But how does it know?

How does it know how to be greatful for not experiencing

what so many others have experienced?

How does it understand what it cannot feel?

What is has not been shown?

How can it speak of the wonders of

God's healing and forgiveness until it has hurt?

God, cause the protected heart to long for you.

Brett

Brett is the name of the homeless man I met today. I happened to be on the Channel 2 News this morning... helping the weatherman with some weather-related experiements. It's there that I learned today may possibly be the hottest day of the entire year.

Jump ahead to this afternoon. I returned home this afternoon after having lunch with a friend and noted a guy sitting on the curb in front of one of my neighbors' houses. It seemed a bit odd, because he was just sitting there. He had a sort of rolling bag with him. I pulled into my garage and hoped he wouldn't follow me up to my house. When I got in, I peeked out the front window and noted that he was still sitting there. It's such a hot day... a terrible day to be outside with nothing to drink.

I decided to take him a drink. I'm one of those people who would sincerely like to help people broken down at the side of the road but don't feel it's a "safe" thing to do in this current day and age... especially for a young woman. (Yes, I know the "young" part could be debatable.) But, he looked harmless enough, and he was sitting right out in the street... in the broad daylight... in the middle of my neighborhood... probably with all of my neighbors witnessing. So, I filled a plastic container with ice and water and walked it out to him. He got up as I walked toward him, and I handed him the water... asked if he was doing okay. He didn't drink the water for a bit, and he finally told me that he didn't want to get the container dirty. I told him he could keep the container, so please drink up. It was SOOOOO hot!

He was apparently headed to another area of town (a couple of miles away) to meet a friend of his. He was coming from his grandmother's house, but it was obvious he had just stopped in to visit her... not staying with her. He hoped his friend might put him up, though he hadn't yet received an invitation. He works at a local restaurant but doesn't get many hours. He apparently used to be a welder but didn't keep up his license (or whatever welding requires). He asked me where I went to church, and he said he's seen our sign. He didn't make it tonight, but I invited him to drop in any time.

Our neighborhood can be a bit tricky to maneuver due to a drainage ditch down through the middle of it, so I walked him part of the way through the neighborhood and pointed him on to a walking trail that would help him get through. We shared a few more thoughts about God, and I had a chance to pray with him.

I was blessed to share the time with him. It reminds me how fortunate I am to have a roof over my head, food to eat, water to drink and a few dollars in my pocket. And, it's taken a type of person who I couldn't have imagined being able to talk to and turned him into a real person.

Please be praying for Brett. I hope maybe our paths will cross again some time.

There's a reason I'm not dating :)

Every week of this season of softball, I've promised myself to get some new cleats. My old ones are from HIGH SCHOOL!! That makes them way too old to be wearing anymore. They're practically disintegrating beneath my feet. So, I ran by Shoe Carnival at lunch today, but they only had MEN'S cleats. (I later found out that men's and women's cleats are exactly the same.)

So, right before the game, I stopped by Academy Sports. The guy who helped me was pointing out all of the options. He was asking which color I preferred (red, white, blue or black). I told him "Oh, I'm..." He tried to finish my sentence... "flexible?" Um... "Well, I was going to say 'easy,' but..." He kind of smiled and made some comment like, "easy, huh?" (I'm retarded.) Anyway, I was leaning toward either the white or black shoes. He kept saying, "I think the white ones would really look good on you." Either way, I tried them both on. He still preferred the white ones. And then came the digging line... "I'm sure your boyfriend would like the white ones."

So, most girls probably would have either straightened him out or taken the bait. Krista's response: "ya think?" (or something similarly non-committal). Anyway, I couldn't get a very good read on him. What do I know about the guy from Academy? Exactly!! That's ALL I know... he works at Academy. Anyway, I suck at flirting... except for the "I'm easy" line, I suppose. And a fella's in for quite a rude awakening if he thinks that's true! I fear the opposite is more likely the case. (For the record... I don't have a flirting repertoire, but if I did "I'm easy" would not be in it!) ;)

Who turned out the lights?!?!

So I had two softball games last night. It's was so hot and humid... we were at least fortunate to play the late games (8:30 and 9:30). It was so sweaty and sticky. Yuck! But, we won our first game. It was a close game, but the last inning we pulled ahead by nine runs to finish them off!

Second game got started shortly after 9:30. We hadn't been playing long at all... batted once and took the field. We were standing there waiting for the first pitch when suddenly all of the lights (on every one of the fields) went out! It was the craziest thing... pitch black!! It was pretty wild... nine fields, two teams and umps on each field, plus our adoring fans... probably 300-400 people out there in complete darkness. Some people were laughing and running around. Our eyes finally adjusted a bit, but for quite awhile, we couldn't see a darned thing. We just sorta felt our way back to the dugout and stands. It was actually kind of fun. I wanted to go lay out in the outfield and look at the stars, but I couldn't find any takers for that activity. Instead we went to Braums.

HITD - Take II

More thoughts from the last post...

You know... As I was looking at that book today, I was thinking about how there's a whole world out there that needs the love of Jesus. I know there are people right here in Tulsa who need Jesus, too, but the basic human needs are so much more pronounced in other areas of the world. Anyway, sometimes I think it would be so easy to pick up and go. Then I sort of laughed as I was thinking of the locale of this latest read... Africa! Isn't that Mom's greatest fear... that God would send her little girl to Africa? ;)

Anyway... I haven't made any plans to leave just yet. But, I am becoming more and more aware of the human atrocities in the world. It seems there should be something done about them. I've been so encouraged by others who are taking an active role.

Sleep on that for a bit,

Krista

Hope in the Dark

I've been looking through a (picture) book today about the crises in Africa, "HOPE in the DARK." It's a beautiful book - photographs by Jeremy Cowart and reflections by Jena Lee.

Here's an excerpt, a comment by an African man:

"We know that Americans pity Africans," he told me. "But sometimes I think AFricans pity Americans."

"How so?" I asked him.

"Americans seem to expect that everything will be provided for them For us," he said, "this ear of corn is a gift from God. This evening's rain is a shower of mercy upon us. This healthy breath is life-giving. And, maybe tomorrow we will not have such things, but our hearts are so full from God's provision."

Vocabulary

Can't think of much else to post, so I'll list a few of my absolute favorite vocabulary words...

serendipity
stellar
tepid
abecedarian
svelte
vicissitude
efficacious

Speaking of Word Verification...

... does anyone else have difficulty reading the letters at times? Obviously they're supposed to be written in a funky sort of way, but I often find myself getting confused between the i's and j's. They always seem to post, though, so maybe I'm better at breaking the encryption than I think. :)

Soaked to the Bone

Well, I made an unfortunate decision to head to the grocery store tonight. It was late, but I decided it would probably be another week unless I went tonight. Just as I arrived to the store, two or three huge raindrops hit my windshield. I thought about turning back around, but again... I need food.

During my shopping excursion, I could hear the giant drops pounding against the metal roof. I hoped that if I took long enough the rain would let us. No such luck. I stood at the exit hoping for a reprieve but quickly determined it would be quite a long while yet. So, I made a mad dash but even gave up on that. I was pretty drenched. Not only that, all of my food and toilet paper got a pretty good soaking. But, all that said, it's a nice storm. Good deep, heart involving thunder. Steady drops of rain. It really is lovely.

Another odd thing, though. As I was loading my food/paper goods onto the conveyor belt, the two guys behind me started unloading their stuff. That's fine and all, but they didn't even give me enough room to finish putting my stuff on the belt. I laid down the bar for them, but finally had to hold the rest of my groceries until the checker was ready for them. It seemed a bit odd to me. And their cart was nearly in the way of me even paying for my groceries. I don't know if they were in a hurry or if they just weren't concerned about anyone around them. (I'm guessing the latter.)

Well, I may do some reading, or watch Seinfeld or balance my checkbook. All three sound enjoyable. No? :)

Verses

I know... I've been bad lately about blogging. :) But, maybe I don't have much to say. I would, however, like to leave with you these two verses...

Proverbs 25:28

"Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control."

Psalm 90:14

"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."