A mighty fine week

Well, the Colts didn’t win as you probably know, but the amazingness of this week, and the fact that they lost to such an admirable opponent, lightens the load quite a bit. Plus it was super fun watching them play in the biggest game of the season, win or no win. So last week was awesome and here’s why…

Monday night, thanks to Amanda we got free VIP passes to meet Uncle Kracker and Ace and TJ from 95.1

Then on Thursday, Annie and I got student rush tickets to see Spring Awakening, great show, great music.
Then, on Friday…Brandon came to Charlotte! I haven’t seen him since my stay in Mombasa, and he just got back to the states on Wednesday. PLUS, Heidi came down that night to surprise him and spent the weekend with us galavanting around Charlotte.

So Peyton didn’t win. That’s the last thing I am going to remember about this week.

sometimes I sound like this when I teach

laser, rocket arm

Superbowl Bound

Getting ready for the superbowl is not only important for the teams that get to play on the field, it’s important for the fans. A true fan must do things to get their hearts and minds ready for the big game. So, even though my boyfriend whom has been out of the country for 6 months is coming home this week (thank you Jesus) I hereby dedicate this week’s blogs to THE Indianapolis Colts, and to their loyal fans.

lack of discipline leads to mediocrity

At Ephesus the last few weeks, we have been doing a series on spiritual disciplines. During Ben’s opening sermon, he made the comment that I used for the title of today’s blog. Trust me..he gave other examples of what lack of discipline leads to as well, but this one has hit home the most. The areas of my life that I would say lack the most discipline would be…….drumroll please….school work, keeping my room clean, getting to the gym, reading my bible, and keeping in touch with faraway friends.

If I had to guess, I would say some of you might have some of these same things on your list as well. Sometimes it feels like these aren’t that big of a deal. Life gets busy, so what if my room isn’t clean, so what if that stack of papers goes into the trash instead of the gradebook. In the grand scheme of things does any of that really hold any importance?

Sure they do. They matter when your best friend wants her favorite shirt back and it’s at the bottom of the pile in your bathroom. It matters when you want to fly to Haiti at the drop of a dime but your passport is somewhere in the bottom of box of papers under your desk. It matters when you go to do report cards and you have to spend three days before grading papers you had put off grading and now you can’t spend time with a friend who just happens to be in town. Or heaven forbid someone ask you about a story from the bible, or why you believe what you believe…but your bible is collecting dust on the back of your toilet. Lack of discipline steals your freedom. Your freedom to get up and go and not have to worry about all that stuff you haven’t been self-controlled enough to take care of. It steals your freedom to throw on a bridesmaid dress or head to the beach because you kept hitting snooze instead of getting to the gym and now you have a little more junk in the trunk than you last remembered. It steals your freedom to share who God is from his word, because you don’t remember what it says.

Only the spirit living in you can help you be disciplined. Only Jesus can keep my fingers from the snooze when my gym shoes are ready to go to the gym. Only the love of God Himself can bring to mind my closest friends and urge me to send them a letter or pick up my phone to call them. As Christians we need to be a people of discipline. I need to have enough freedom that when a hurting friend needs some of my time, or a place to stay, or a ride in my car, or encouragement from the word, or even if they need me to run to the police for help (extreme I know, but I needed an exercise example)  I can say yes! because everything in my life is taken care of…so that I can take care of those around me. Isn’t that what it’s all about? taking care of others.

So, not only does lack of discipline lead to, a muffin top, a stank bathroom, or a week long stack of papers to put a sticker on, it keeps you from the freedom to take care of others, and to enjoy this beautiful life that God has so graciously given you.

So let’s unite in being people of discipline, people with drive, people with the word on their lips, clean closets, and better fitting jeans!

Mombasa, Kenya

I want to first apologize. I know it has been 2 weeks since my return from Kenya and I have not yet posted. Well, here are my 2 excuses. 1.) I am pretty sure I have malaria because I was really sick and every day that I miss my malaria pill I get a fever of 102.  excuse 2.) The internet has been down at our house.

Ok now that’s through. Here is the long awaited blog.

I arrived at the Rapha House on the morning of December 20th. I was weary after 33 hours of traveling, but I was elated to finally be there, and to be with Brandon of course. Here is a little history of the Rapha house before I proceed.

The Rapha House was started by a friend of mine (Carly) from Taylor, another girl (Valerie) Whom I knew at Taylor but didn’t grow close with until this trip, and a Pastor and his wife (Sandra.) There is a place in Mombasa called Momboxini. It’s a place where street people live. All of them without proper homes or schools, and most all of them addicted to glue, and to the street life. The Rapha House was started so that some of these boys would have a place to live, food to eat, a chance to go to school, and the opportunity to become part of a family who grows, prays, studies, and loves together. So a little over a year ago, the Rapha House was started for these boys, 18-22 years old, whom God dearly loves. When I got to the house on December 20th, these were the people currently  ”working” at the house.
Brandon, Carly, Valerie, Pastor, Sandra (along with their kids Juma, Tede, Emanuel, and Salito), and Whitney (Carly’s sister, fellow Taylor Grad, she was living in the house for 5 months, and left when I left.)
The  boys were out of school in December so they were at the house every day. There names are Enock, Mario, Samuel, John and Allan. There are 2 other boys, Issa and Derek, who are living in the house right now as well. Issa is recently released miraculously from jail and is so excited to be at the house learning to Love Jesus, and Derek is one of the wisest former street boys you could ever meet. Another really sweet and wise young man named Stanley spent most days at the house as well. There were also tons of kids belong to Mama Zaura and Mama Moosa (the ladies who worked at the Rapha House) whom ran around all day as well. So now that you know some names, here are some faces.

Adamu

Allan before his haircut for school.

Zaura

Enock...funny and handsome

Mario, Issa, and John. dancing outside the Rapha House.

I was blessed enough to spend 14 days with the ladies and gents of the Rapha house. A normal day consisted of waking up sweating , heading over to the Rapha house from Carly and Val’s nearby apartment, having morning tea with the boys, and then starting the day. Since the boys were out of school and it was holiday time, most days were relaxed. A lot of just getting to know them, going to get water, dancing around the prayer room, preparing lunches and dinners, and running the many errands that Brandon needed to run and was gracious enough to take me around with him. While I was there the Rapha House hosted 2 outreaches. Carly speaks of them best in the Rapha House blog. For the first outreach, the boys worked so hard building a stage, getting worship music and performances ready, and creating games. They invited the people in the nearby village and we served dinner and projected “The Passion of the Christ” onto the side of the house for people to watch, while Enock translated. Here are some pics from the first outreach. It was truly powerful for me to watch boys who not long ago lived on the street, do such a great job serving others.

Samuel and Matt (Whitney's fiance) during the eating contest

standing in line for dinner

valerie speaking with friends

This outreach was wonderful but it was small-scale compared to the second outreach. It was held on Christmas Eve ( one of the biggest party nights in Mombasa) and Whitney filled matatus with  boys from Momboxini to bring them to the house. Bringing that many street boys to the house is risky business but we had prayed a lot about this night. There were around 200 people there, and even with some scuffles from the street boys and sore fingers from serving an insane amount of food it was fantastic. Please read Carly’s most recent blog (link above) to hear more about it. Here are some pictures from the second outreach.

It was dark, so I don’t have a lot of photos from the movie or anything but you get how much fun it was…

Ok, so other than outreach, like I mentioned before, most days were spent living daily life with Brandon and getting to know what his life is like in Mombasa. I also got to spend Christmas there. Family Christmas at the Rapha house consisted of tons of food (chicken, salad, cookies, etc..) Christmas movies, and house silverware and cups as presents. New Years Eve was spent on the roof of the Rapha House watching local fireworks and drinking cokes. We also had a couple of family beach days, including a bonfire. Brandon even took me to a park with super sweet animals.

in a matatu on the way to the beach

Christmas day movies

ran into some camels on the beach

monkey see....

he'll be home Feb. 3

the Indian Ocean

There is so much more to say. Let’s have coffee or a phone date if you are far away, and I will tell you all about it.

In short, here are some things I learned in Mombasa.
1. Prayer changes everything.
2. Nothing in life is worth whining about.
3. Nothing that costs money is important.
4. You should never serve the poor because they deserve a better life, but because God deserves for them to love him, and it’s your job to bring them to him.

Ok so I just realized that this list could last until 2011, so I will end there.

first NFL experience.

I went to my first NFL game today. Neither team was one that I particularly cared about, but…it was still a fantastic time. Here are some pics of my friend Erin and I enjoying the festivities.

nosebleeds

so excited

believe in nowsweet view of the city

sweet view of the city

Thanksgiving gets skipped on Mean Girls….weird.

So, I went home to Indiana for Thanksgiving. My dear old dad was kind enough to buy me a ticket and fly me out. It was so great to see so many people. True, I didn’t get to see “everyone” since I was only there for a few short days, but the ones whom I did get to see made my mini-vacation quite wonderful. It’s crazy seeing babies grow up, and friends fill their bellies with new ones…(is that awkward to say? Oh well, it’s already out there.) It’s weird to think that all my friends back in Indiana are in that married/children stage of life. It’s a beautiful stage…to visit for a week.

My friend Donna here in Charlotte is having a baby soon. We threw/through (I’m just not really sure which one is right in this case..) her a baby shower at school. I ordered a baby shower cake that said Congratulations Donna! When it got to school It said Congracrualatons Donna! Really? You decorate cakes for a living? Post that word up somewhere in the bakery…

Last night we had a Christmas movie marathon/pajama/christmas cookie party. I felt like there were a zillion people here. Probably cause there were. But it was awesome, and it was awesome looking around and seeing people sleeping on pretty much every inch of our floor. Here is the funniest story of the night…including some background info…

Probably about a month ago I got a card in the mail from Wong. It’s pink and covered with hearts and says…Good Luck on Your Exams!  When you open it, it plays this extremely high pitched song that I didn’t recognize, but the song never stops playing it’s like that song from Lambchop. I couldn’t actually focus to read Wong’s letter while the song was playing so I disassembled the whole inside of the card to get it to stop. Last night, I woke up (remember, there are people asleep everywhere, and my room is full of purses and things..Christine happened to be in my bed too. All of a sudden I hear someone’s cell phone and I look at the clock in my room and it says 3:40…I waited patiently for the sound to stop but it never did, it might have even gotten louder, or I was just more aware of it. Finally, I said “Christine, What the heck is that?” She got out of bed and was looking around…I seriously still thought it was someone’s cell phone…but we soon realized it was Brandon’s crazy exam card! WEIRD. I had taken that thing completely apart and it hadn’t played music in a month!…….yikes

I leave for Africa in 13 days. That is so insane to me. Until yesterday I don’t think I had time to really process that yet, but it’s like actually happening for real….crazy. Pray for me, as I get ready to go , and that my traveling goes safe and smooth, I know I am supposed to be brave and grown-up and all that jazz, but trying to get all of Brandon’s junk food through customs makes me a little nervous.

In further news, It’s Advent! My favorite season of the whole year…instead of writing about it again, check out last year’s advent post, it’s a good one…

call da po po hoe.

oh wow. What an eventful evening.

It all started with planning a coffee date with my friend/coworker Sommer.

On my way to our chosen coffee shop, she called me and said that she had unfortunately locked her keys in her car.

I picked her up and we headed to my house to get some heavy artillery to remedy the problem.

She also called a locksmith whom hung up before she could ask him how much his services were going to cost her. So she called back….but there was no answer.

After several long minutes of trying to break into the car, we realized our hanger wasn’t working. (It’s hard with automatic locks.) BUT, our locksmith had arrived to hopefully, save the day. He got out of his car and told her it was going to cost $65. She politely told him “No Thank You.” and that we would find someone else to do it. He was polite at first, trying to convince her otherwise. She reminded him of the fact that she had called him to find out the cost, but he did not answer his phone call. He wasn’t satisfied. he said it was going to cost her $35 dollars anyway because he had to drive out on a Sunday night in the cold. She basically told him that this wasn’t her problem, he should have answered his phone, and he couldn’t make her pay anything. (You go Girl) All this time, I am but a mere spectator, admiring the way that Sommer is handling herself so calmy…

and then ….

The next thing I know the guy is telling her that she should go to that really hot place where people go when they die if they don’t have Jesus, and that she’s a piece of something smelly. (He was really angry.) And then he says that he is going to have her car towed, which I told her was impossible. They are both sharing words while dialing their phones, and I stood by like . Worse comes to worse and I hear Sommer saying into her cell phone. ” I need a police officer here because I am being harassed by a locksmith.” Then, the locksmith was in his car and gone, and I was scared so I made Sommer come get in my car with me while the nice police lady gave her the number of a different locksmith and we recounted over and over again what had happened like we had just gotten into a fight on the playground.

Then, the nicest man ever from 1-800-pop-a-lock came on over and popped the door open in 2 seconds flat and barely charged us a nickel…ok it was more than a nickel but it felt like nothing compared to what he had been through.

So…in summary…

24.7 locksmiths of Charlotte pop-a-lock

this song is my jam

One of my favorite pastimes is singing in the car.

I don’t mean like singing along to my favorite tunes all sweet and innocent, I mean full open mouth, turning up the radio all the way so I can’t hear myself and occasionally waving my arms.

I also believe I may have mastered the art of what to do when someone actually catches me in the act of this ridiculousness. If what I just stated is true, then I feel that it is my duty as a fellow member of the highway choir club to share my insights.

The way I see it, in the likelyhood that you take a second during your rendition of Kelly’s “Since you’ve been Gone” to look over your shoulder to the onlooker in the vehicle next to you,  you have 1 of 4 choices…

1. Immediately stop. As far as that high school boy in his pick-up truck knows, what he thought he just saw never happened, it was just a figment of his imagination. He probably doesn’t have enough freedom in his veins to do it himself and just wishes what he thought he saw had been true.

2. smile politely and then stop. So what if thriller is the best dance ever….that guy in his lexus doesn’t even deserve the chance to see your sweet moves, you’ve only just spent a second together at this red light, you barely know him. So, you look at him, smile sweetly, turn a little red, but deny him the chance to see the best display of zombieness he has ever seen.

3. keep going…just tone it down. So what? That girl in her volkswagon just caught you rapping better than jay-z, but the song isn’t over. Who is she to steal what could have been the highlight of your whole day or your whole r&b career?  So you keep going, but you decide to keep the gang signs below the steering wheel, you don’t need her telling the story to all her sorority sisters.

4.roll with it It’s one of those days, you could care less if grandma blue-hair just caught you singing into your waterbottle. As a matter of fact, the only way this moment could get better is if she joined you, so you roll your window down, stick your arm out towards her and remind her to “Don’t stop believin….”

Those are just some ideas…maybe you have others? please share your wisdom with the group.