recovering

strange, strange, strange. waking up at 5 in the afternoon when you've been asleep since 8 am is very strange. i hate this feeling, but today i had no choice.

over 50 kids showed up at the lock-in. we had a bonfire, played soccer, madame conductor (yes, i brought kerstin's game out in a pinch...and the kids loooved it!), the kids beat each other with foam sticks, played video games and watched movies. and behind all these events was endless hours of drama. i forgot what it's like to be 14, but this night brought it all back!

'so and so is mad at so and so'
'why isn't so and so talking to me?'
'eewww! so and so likes so and so'

you get the idea. so matt and i spent from around 2 am to 7 am patrolling all the nooks and crannies of the church for 'couples'. we got a tip from one of the older kids to keep checking by the outside baptismal where (quoting him) 'quite a few kids have gotten their first kiss'. thankfully, everytime we checked it, it was clear.

so we're home, and rested. and swearing we won't do another lock-in for 15 years! but of course we will as soon as one of those sweet kids asks us to...we'll forget this feeling and start making plans.

must blog more

not that i think the masses are enjoying my blog, but i realized the other day how much i count on the blogs i check to have new posts! it's scary how much i check other blogs. so, if there are those of you that do this too...here's a long awaited treat!

what have i done lately? went to ohio for a weekend with dad and mom - saw the new baby. last weekend we went to ft. meyers to see matt's auntie ellie. what a precious lady. she gave me a tea cup and setting just in case we have 'high tea'.

off to olive garden for soup, salad, and breadsticks. but mostly we're going to visit some of our youth kids that work there.

more later. and more often. i'll really try!

waiting out ernesto

we went to walgreens and got tropical storm/hurricane supplies. anti-itch cream for a strange rash on my back, hot tamales and nerds. so we're set for the storm.

one of those days

today was one of those days that was so great. for a lot of reasons.
we're on regent break until monday so there was time to:

sit on the couch with matt in my pj's and drink 2 cups of coffee with vanilla nut creamer. we planned the next few months of youth group activities, other trips, things we want to do this fall - which involved my giant calendar and multi-colored markers (i love ever opportunity to bust my calendar and markers out!...matt is a good sport about it)

re-arrange the living room. again, matt was a great sport. i couldn't for the life of me decide which wall the bookshelf should go on. it needs to be near a plug, which limits our options, but there's still 4 possibilities. it ended up in the dining room near the kitchen...strange, i know.

replace the brake pads. well, we didn't, midas did. but apparently the back brakes were shot, so i'm glad we did that before some of our upcoming trips! gulp.

have panera soup (brocolli cheddar of course) and start our regent work early. even though the semester starts monday, we're supposed to be a week ahead in reading and work. i give myself a lot of slack the week before, though, because technically we haven't started yet.

take a beautiful run over the causeway. the sun was setting over the intercoastal, and we saw 5 or 6 manatees swimming 10 feet off shore. we went out on the rocks and could practically touch their little snouts. it's at these times i love living in melbourne, florida.

watch alternating episodes of gilmore girls and 24. i am equally addicted to both. and right now, i'm going to go start the 'rotation'......

i loved today.