At long last...

It's hard to believe that my dearest friend Katrina is finally, after lots of waiting and time apart, married to Paul! But it really happened, even though I wasn't there to see it, and now they are one...Isn't she beautiful? And just look at the grins on their faces...Ah, to be young and in love! :)

(Edit: Oh, and many thanks to Chuck for the beautiful picture...)

Hooray for reunions!

It is so surreal to be reunited with the friends who are closest to my heart, after a year of being apart and trying to keep up with each other via e-mails, letters, blogs, and the occasional phone call...It seems so right, so normal, and at the same time so much has happened in the past year in our own separate lives that we all feel like very different people. And I guess we are! VERY different. Some married, some getting married, some gone to the other side of the world and back again, most with our futures still wide open, all trusting in God's hand to guide us and shape us even though we may have no clue where He's taking us or what He's making us into... But you know what? That's the beauty of friendship, of the Body of Christ - that it changes with us as we change, so that it is just as comfortable now as it was at the beginning and will be in the future, and it will feel just as right to be reunited them - with YOU - when we're all wearing our grey hair with pride as it does now, when we have most of our lives still ahead of us. :)

Somehow, I find myself with not nearly enough pictures in digital format...I'll have to fix that this weekend. :) I LOVE MY FRIENDS!

Apology...

I'm sorry! I know that I've been pretty absent recently...that most of my posts recently have been fairly sporadic, short, inane, and not very informative as to how I'm doing...That I haven't been responding to questions in your comments...And I want you to know that it's not because nothing's going on, or because I don't care enough to share more than just superficial anecdotes about my life, or because I'm ignoring you! There has been so much going on that I would love to share, discuss, ask, vent, and celebrate with you! Like reunions with friends and family, great books I've read and movies I've watched, progress that has been made with some of the kids in my youth group, and the curious mixture of excitement and fear at the prospect of making decisions about my future...But it has been impossible to sit down at a computer and type these things out for, oh, the last month or so! They have just been piling up in my mind and heart, and sometimes on the pages of my journal or in heart-to-heart conversations with friends, but never on the screen of my computer...Alas, the problem with having internet access only at work! That means that the only way for me to do anything online for my own benefit is either during work time, or if I stay late...And in my 8-hour work days, I have recently had at least 9 hours' worth of work to do. (For example, yesterday, my full work day was answering phones, managing the fleet, getting financial records ironed out for the end of the fiscal year, organizing end-of-the-schoolyear academic stuff for all the profs in my department, and working on contracts for all our home games next year. But in the middle of it all, the sound guy didn't show up for the opening ceremony of a big conference we had up here in the gym, so I ended up setting up the whole sound system! Woohoo! All those months of setting up the Godspeed sound system really paid off! In fact, to make things easier, it actually WAS the Godspeed sound system that I set up...) So, the writing while at work option is definitely out the window, and, inevitably, if I stay late, someone sees that I'm in my office and drops in to ask a question, or to give me more work to do...SO, here I am, apologizing profusely for being gone, and yet still not saying anything useful...go figure...

But the exciting part is that I get to see almost all of you in the next week! Hooray for weddings! :) I can't wait to see you all...

Ode to a brother

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirthday, dear BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN,
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!

On this day, 17 years ago, I remember when...(OK, fine, I'll spare you from the embarrassing, sentimental stories.)

Aah, how is it that he's 17 today? Time flies way too fast...
Love you, birthday boy!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Houghton College is going to have its first woman President!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, baby, that's right, Karl Eastlack just announced it in Chapel today, that Dr. Shirley Mullen has reconsidered and accepted the position!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (There simply aren't enough exclamation marks for this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) You should have heard the thunderous applause and the cheering...I don't think any other candidate could have even come close to the amount of support she had.

It's so unbelievably exciting!!!!!!!!!!!! What a relief! What a victory! In fact, I danced a little jig and gave many high-fives and am still wearing a big grin on my face because of it all, and I think that will still be true for several days. Yes, the feminist in me is overjoyed because she's a woman, and we need more women in leadership at this school and in the Church. Because in a community where, although many verbally preach egalitarianism (with some criticism), the actual practice is for some reason frowned upon (or at least kept under wraps so as not to make people think we are too liberal), we will now have a woman in the seat of highest honour and responsibility. With overwhelming support. Yes, the feminist in me is overjoyed and thrilled and delighted! But I'm also excited because, regardless of gender, I think she was the most qualified, the most capable candidate, and the one with the best and clearest vision, accompanied by the most open-mindedness and listening ears.

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!! :)