All summer I have been waiting. When I returned from Chapter Camp it was as if someone pushed start on a cosmic timer that started to click down towards the zero mark of everything I looked forward too. My dearest chum Kim left to do astrophysics research in Boston (sorry, Kim, if I described it incorrectly) for the whole summer. My roommate Emily left for Xi’an China, where I spent last summer, for 6 weeks. My good friend Jon left to Mozambique for the whole summer. David, the boy I’m totally crazy about, left to work at a summer camp in Illinois for…the whole summer. I just wanted them all to come back. Plus, student teaching was scheduled to begin at the end of August and I was (still am) waiting for information that will effect my future. I don’t think I have ever watched the calendar pages flip with such anticipation before.
The parts of the Bible that I read over the summer focused on this theme of waiting. I connected a lot with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and Caleb as they all had to wait to have God’s promises fulfilled in their lives. God promised Abraham that He would give him a family, but he wasn’t given a son until his old age. Abraham even tried to take things into his own hands because God was taking too long, but it was clear when Isaac arrived that he was all Abraham had hoped for. Isaac had to wait for his wife and 20 years for his children, but God gave him the same promise and fulfilled it. Jacob had to work 14 years to be able to marry Rachel, whom he loved. He also had to wait until his old age to receive back his beloved son, Joseph. Joseph had to wait through years of slavery in Egypt before God fulfilled the visions He gave him as a boy. Moses had to grow up in Egypt, live in exile as a shepherd in Midian, and then go through all the plagues in response to Pharaoh’s hard heart before God fulfilled His promise to use him to lead the Israelites into freedom. Joshua and Caleb had to wait their whole lives wandering aimlessly in the desert before they got to enter into the Promise Land that they had seen with their own eyes. I’ve only had to wait about 4 months! Compared to 20 years and whole lifetimes, that feels like nothing.
This pattern of waiting on God struck me as very significant. Why does He consistently do this with those He loves and has BIG plans for? I read in the book Scandalous this summer that “God demonstrates His love through delay.” If that makes perfect sense to you, please teach me! I did learn that waiting usually has the following two purposes:
It is a time of wooing…it develops intimacy and dependency between us and God. We draw closer to Him in these times because we desperately need Him to come through for us. In these times, He carries us close, the way a father carries his child. And, we have rebellious hearts and need to be drawn close in order to remember that God alone is God and that loving Him is the purpose of our lives. I also think that often God demonstrates His love to us by giving His promises to us “ahead of time”. That way, in the darkest moments we can anchor ourselves to the solid ground of His word. It also gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our love to Him when we say with trust “I know this will happen eventually, even though it looks impossible, because He said it would”. It tests and develops our relationship with Him, as between two lovers. The delay also ensures that God gets all the glory and credit when the waiting is over. It was only God’s favor, power, and grace that preserved the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and Caleb. Through the thread of their story He continues to fulfill His word across their generations with enduring faithfulness.
It is a time of preparation…it makes us worthy and ready to receive the promise. Joseph and Moses needed to be prepared for unique positions of leadership. God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the family, His own people, through whom He would reveal Himself to the rest of the world. He used those times of waiting in their lives to demonstrate His character and teach them who He is to make them able to carry the name of God. He was wrapping them up into something so much BIGGER than themselves, the very story of God! And He was bringing them into relationship with Him, that they might know God! They had to be ready to take good care of such a good and significant gift.
So, I’ve learned that God gives us times of waiting for a reason. We need to use the opportunities wisely. We also need to trust in His timing and hold tightly to God’s promises. They are the backbone of His story in our lives and He will be faithful to fulfill them.
Now that all the waiting is almost over, I’m really thankful that I’ve had this time. I’ve learned a ton, sorted through a lot of issues in my heart, and grown closer with Jesus. I feel more prepared to take good care of the gifts He has given me. His love for me, and His love for you, is lavish beyond measure. There is no better possible life than trusting Him and following His lead.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Twitter Story
Many of you might be wondering why I just signed up for Twitter or at least why it’s such a big deal that I did. Well, here’s how it happened:
THE BACKSTORY:
For the past year my best friends Kim and Chris have been scheming to try and get me on Twitter. It started when Kim, who was my roommate, started tweeting ridiculous things that I would do. Chris, who follows her, would then make fun of me randomly for these things which he should have no knowledge of. Kim wouldn’t tell me what she would tweet unless I would get a Twitter to see for myself. So it basically became a game of Kim-and-Chris-try-to-drive-Rachel-crazy vs. Rachel-on-principle-stubbornly-refuses-to-let-them. Over this past year they have tried EVERYTHING to convince me to give in and get a Twitter. And I haven’t budged an inch…until today.
STAGE 1: RACHEL EPICALLY WINS
It started quite well for me at work this morning. Chris and I walked over to the dispatch area of our office. Chris put a work order in one of the maintenance guy’s folders and then turned around and full on ran into a table of walkie talkies. It was slap stick level clumsy. And he did it right in front of me. *evil laughter*
I busted up laughing so hard at him that I was crying and couldn’t breathe. I was definitely making fun of him for this one and he had no defense. It was a true WIN however when we returned to a previous conversation and Chris tried to scheme to get me to put up the hideous Christmas decoration. I just whipped back with “Chris I can’t put up the Christmas decorations because they’ll be too hazardous. You’ll probably just run into all of them.” And Chris just looked at me in shock and said “Well done.” He even tried to make fun of me for the fact that I say query incorrectly. I just smirked and said “Wow, that’s really all you got?” He said, “I’m hanging on by a thread here!” Yes. I win, I win, I win!
STAGE 2: RACHEL ACKNOWLEDGES HER TEMPORARY STATUS AS WINNER
Through my tears of laughter I told Chris “I know you’re going to get me back so good and ruin my life tomorrow. But that’s ok. It’s totally worth it. I’m just going to enjoy this for now.”
I definitely fully exercised by bragging rights. I mean I don’t win very often! Just read about the dirty cookie!
As we were walking out after work I smirked and said “Well, Chris. Today I have enjoyed being the winner. Tomorrow, I will return to being a loser, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my day as a winner.”
This is the point where I should have known better. I should have known that Chris would never let me off with a WHOLE DAY as the winner, especially not so easily. But I still didn’t see it coming.
STAGE 3: CHRIS HOLDS TARPOO HOSTAGE, NEGOTIATIONS
I meander in the nice Flagstaff weather back to my apartment. However, when I arrive at my landing who do I find there but Mr. Chris Huston. “What are you doing here?” I say. “Have a seat” he says.
Chris proceeds to play the perfect (though not stone hearted) part of the villain. He stands there with a smirk on his face in his sunglasses. He implies that he has (with some unnamed help) kidnapped Tarpoo, my stuffed animal seal. If you don’t know, Tarpoo is my one prized possession. I’ve had this stuffed animal since I was born and I sleep with him every night. Chris had found my one weakness.
He then proceeded to up the stakes by telling me that if I didn’t come up with my own acceptable terms or agree to his that he wouldn’t give Tarpoo back until at least Monday. I have to get my wisdom teeth out on Friday and I’m going to need Tarpoo! That was cruel and unacceptable. Then he added that if I was too difficult he would ship Tarpoo to a certain Mr. Jon Watson in Mozambique who hates hates hates Tarpoo. Jon would probably give Tarpoo to an adorable African child and I would never see him again!! Immediately I had this pit of helpless despair in my stomach and that feeling you get after losing a soccer match.
STAGE 4: THE TERMS, GET A TWITTER
Chris then offered that if I would eat saur kraut (from a more recent World Cup rivalry between us) and sign up for a Twitter then he would give me Tarpoo back immediately. That would be losing two rivalries just for the price of getting Tarpoo back right away. Utterly humiliating! Plus, I knew he had to be bluffing in some capacity, I just couldn’t figure out how much. I simply couldn’t risk him keeping or shipping off Tarpoo. However, my theory was if I could call his bluff just a little bit I could buy myself some time. I refused his terms and told him to leave.
Sure enough, as he was about to go down the steps he turned again and reduced the terms. I could choose death by shark or monkeys: eat a ton of saur kraut or sign up for a Twitter. I pondered this carefully. The Twitter rivalry has been going on for a long time and I’ve been trying to think of a way to end it well. I would have preferred for it to end well with ME winning, but this was also a good ending. Chris had defeated me soundly with his evil genius ways. I did a quick check to make sure Tarpoo was actually missing. Then I concede to the terms of signing up for Twitter.
STAGE 5: RACHEL EPICALLY LOSES, CREATES @ROLLEFSTAD
I sat down with Chris and I created a Twitter account as @Rollefstad. He had a big ole grin on his face as he took photographic evidence. I then publically announced by defeat (part of the terms) by posting it in my Facebook status. I’m sure this made Kim’s day, haha. I am now required to keep my Twitter permanently.
And Chris is a man of his word. He led me upstairs to our storage closet where Tarpoo was buried. As I held Tarpoo safe in my arms I knew that it was worth the price I had paid to get him back.
Congratulations, Chris and Kim. Well done. However, due to my win within the same 24 hour period, Chris did concede to me that today ended in a tie. *big grin* I feel I maintain some dignity with that conclusion and I am content.
I still haven’t decided what to do with my Twitter yet. I’ll have to get over the sting of defeat first. Then I might proceed to have some fun with it. Stay tuned I guess. Haha.
THE BACKSTORY:
For the past year my best friends Kim and Chris have been scheming to try and get me on Twitter. It started when Kim, who was my roommate, started tweeting ridiculous things that I would do. Chris, who follows her, would then make fun of me randomly for these things which he should have no knowledge of. Kim wouldn’t tell me what she would tweet unless I would get a Twitter to see for myself. So it basically became a game of Kim-and-Chris-try-to-drive-Rachel-crazy vs. Rachel-on-principle-stubbornly-refuses-to-let-them. Over this past year they have tried EVERYTHING to convince me to give in and get a Twitter. And I haven’t budged an inch…until today.
STAGE 1: RACHEL EPICALLY WINS
It started quite well for me at work this morning. Chris and I walked over to the dispatch area of our office. Chris put a work order in one of the maintenance guy’s folders and then turned around and full on ran into a table of walkie talkies. It was slap stick level clumsy. And he did it right in front of me. *evil laughter*
I busted up laughing so hard at him that I was crying and couldn’t breathe. I was definitely making fun of him for this one and he had no defense. It was a true WIN however when we returned to a previous conversation and Chris tried to scheme to get me to put up the hideous Christmas decoration. I just whipped back with “Chris I can’t put up the Christmas decorations because they’ll be too hazardous. You’ll probably just run into all of them.” And Chris just looked at me in shock and said “Well done.” He even tried to make fun of me for the fact that I say query incorrectly. I just smirked and said “Wow, that’s really all you got?” He said, “I’m hanging on by a thread here!” Yes. I win, I win, I win!
STAGE 2: RACHEL ACKNOWLEDGES HER TEMPORARY STATUS AS WINNER
Through my tears of laughter I told Chris “I know you’re going to get me back so good and ruin my life tomorrow. But that’s ok. It’s totally worth it. I’m just going to enjoy this for now.”
I definitely fully exercised by bragging rights. I mean I don’t win very often! Just read about the dirty cookie!
As we were walking out after work I smirked and said “Well, Chris. Today I have enjoyed being the winner. Tomorrow, I will return to being a loser, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my day as a winner.”
This is the point where I should have known better. I should have known that Chris would never let me off with a WHOLE DAY as the winner, especially not so easily. But I still didn’t see it coming.
STAGE 3: CHRIS HOLDS TARPOO HOSTAGE, NEGOTIATIONS
I meander in the nice Flagstaff weather back to my apartment. However, when I arrive at my landing who do I find there but Mr. Chris Huston. “What are you doing here?” I say. “Have a seat” he says.
Chris proceeds to play the perfect (though not stone hearted) part of the villain. He stands there with a smirk on his face in his sunglasses. He implies that he has (with some unnamed help) kidnapped Tarpoo, my stuffed animal seal. If you don’t know, Tarpoo is my one prized possession. I’ve had this stuffed animal since I was born and I sleep with him every night. Chris had found my one weakness.
He then proceeded to up the stakes by telling me that if I didn’t come up with my own acceptable terms or agree to his that he wouldn’t give Tarpoo back until at least Monday. I have to get my wisdom teeth out on Friday and I’m going to need Tarpoo! That was cruel and unacceptable. Then he added that if I was too difficult he would ship Tarpoo to a certain Mr. Jon Watson in Mozambique who hates hates hates Tarpoo. Jon would probably give Tarpoo to an adorable African child and I would never see him again!! Immediately I had this pit of helpless despair in my stomach and that feeling you get after losing a soccer match.
STAGE 4: THE TERMS, GET A TWITTER
Chris then offered that if I would eat saur kraut (from a more recent World Cup rivalry between us) and sign up for a Twitter then he would give me Tarpoo back immediately. That would be losing two rivalries just for the price of getting Tarpoo back right away. Utterly humiliating! Plus, I knew he had to be bluffing in some capacity, I just couldn’t figure out how much. I simply couldn’t risk him keeping or shipping off Tarpoo. However, my theory was if I could call his bluff just a little bit I could buy myself some time. I refused his terms and told him to leave.
Sure enough, as he was about to go down the steps he turned again and reduced the terms. I could choose death by shark or monkeys: eat a ton of saur kraut or sign up for a Twitter. I pondered this carefully. The Twitter rivalry has been going on for a long time and I’ve been trying to think of a way to end it well. I would have preferred for it to end well with ME winning, but this was also a good ending. Chris had defeated me soundly with his evil genius ways. I did a quick check to make sure Tarpoo was actually missing. Then I concede to the terms of signing up for Twitter.
STAGE 5: RACHEL EPICALLY LOSES, CREATES @ROLLEFSTAD
I sat down with Chris and I created a Twitter account as @Rollefstad. He had a big ole grin on his face as he took photographic evidence. I then publically announced by defeat (part of the terms) by posting it in my Facebook status. I’m sure this made Kim’s day, haha. I am now required to keep my Twitter permanently.
And Chris is a man of his word. He led me upstairs to our storage closet where Tarpoo was buried. As I held Tarpoo safe in my arms I knew that it was worth the price I had paid to get him back.
Congratulations, Chris and Kim. Well done. However, due to my win within the same 24 hour period, Chris did concede to me that today ended in a tie. *big grin* I feel I maintain some dignity with that conclusion and I am content.
I still haven’t decided what to do with my Twitter yet. I’ll have to get over the sting of defeat first. Then I might proceed to have some fun with it. Stay tuned I guess. Haha.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Dirty Cookie and The Evil Stapler
Now that I'm back at work the hilarity of Capital Assets has resumed:
The Dirty Cookie:
Sometimes I seriously feel like I'm living in an “Office” episode. For example, last Wednesday Capital Assets experienced the equivalent of "Free Pretzel Day", only with barbeque food. Everyone spent the whole week looking forward to it and when the time finally came people fiercely guarded their places in line.
The best part of the food was the cookies. I was in line with Chris and he got one chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips and I got two of the exact same kind. As we walked back to the office Chris dropped his cookie on the hallway floor. Now this hallway is where all the trades guys track through during the day, so this cookie was a gonner. But Chris picked it up anyways.
So Chris and I were sitting at our desks an hour or so later. Chris stared at his cookie.
I asked, "Are you deciding whether to eat it or not?"
Chris says, "No, I'm deciding whether to throw it away or give it to someone I don’t like.”
“Who do you dislike enough that works here to give that disgusting cookie?”
“You.”
“Oh, ok. Well, I saw you drop the cookie ya know. So, I’m really curious how you are going to try and convince me to eat it.”
I should have been on my guard at this point. He’d already admitted that he had targeted me. But I wasn’t. Chris stands up, picks up his cookie, picks up my two identical cookies, and then puts them behind his back! He possibly mixes them around a bit and them sets all three cookies back on my desk. He just smirks and returns to his desk.
I was shocked! Now I didn’t know which one was the dirty cookie! It was a genius scheme that ranked up there with the Pepper and Ice Cream Scheme of St. Louis ‘10 and I walked right into it!
I decided that I had only two options: I could throw all the cookies away (tragedy!) or I could eat all the cookies (disgusting, but would get Chris back by making him feel bad). Thankfully, Chris offered to reveal the identity of the dirty cookie for a price. He had decided that he really wanted to eat one, so if I let him eat one of the clean cookies he’d tell me which one was the dirty one. I cut my losses and agreed. He walked over and just picked up a cookie and ate it! Ah!! I still didn’t know which one was the dirty cookie! He got me again!
After I fumed about this for awhile, Chris said to me in a very serious voice, “Rachel, after all that we’ve been through in our friendship, do you trust me?”
“Yes Chris, even though you steal and mess up my cookies I still trust you.”
“Ok. Well, I ate the dirty cookie.”
“What?! Why did you do that?”
I couldn’t believe he actually ate it! Well, actually I did believe him because I ate the other two (hopefully) clean cookies. He still tried to make me question this decision, but I still feel confident that he would have felt too bad if he had so thoroughly tricked me into actually eating the dirty cookie. Either way, it was one of the best schemes that has ever been played against me.
The Evil Stapler:
Chris and I have a lot of conversations about the technology in our office, which all has a habit of breaking. He knows a lot about such things so it’s usually him instructing me. Here are a few paraphrased transcripts:
Chris: “Oh, to be a printer. What a hard life that would be.”
Me: *Laughter*
Chris: “Rachel, have a little compassion.”
Me: “Please tell the scanner, copier, and printer I’m sorry. I don’t mean to belittle their experience. I just like dark humor.”
Chris: “I’ll tell them like R2D2 [using a technology interface language (sorry Chris if I explained that wrong)]. beep, beep, boop, boop” *hand gestures to accompany sound effects* “They all say they forgive you, except for the scanner.”
Rachel: “What?! That’s probably the one that I’m the nicest to.”
Chris: “Well, you just ruined that relationship didn’t you. Actually, he says he’s jealous of all the backrubs the printer gets.”
(I commonly rub the printer and speak nicely to it in order to try and prevent it from jamming. It usually works.)
Today was definitely my favorite though. We got a new electric stapler…
Chris: “Rachel! The new stapler is evil!! It has red eyes and red teeth!!” *uses fingers to create Monty-Python-rabbit-style-fangs* “It’s going to come and staple our toes!! Wherever you go the eyes follow you. We need to unite against this crisis. It’s going to get the printer and soon the phones on its side! The other staplers can be warriors against them!”
Chris then bravely stole the stapler schematics from the back copier area. I gave him a high five for this and he proceeded to research for a weakness. I agreed to join his alliance. We also tried to get another student, Whitney, to join our alliance but she seemed hesitant. I think she’ll come around when the evil stapler crisis gets worse.
Hehe, this is why Chris and I are friends. :D
The Dirty Cookie:
Sometimes I seriously feel like I'm living in an “Office” episode. For example, last Wednesday Capital Assets experienced the equivalent of "Free Pretzel Day", only with barbeque food. Everyone spent the whole week looking forward to it and when the time finally came people fiercely guarded their places in line.
The best part of the food was the cookies. I was in line with Chris and he got one chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips and I got two of the exact same kind. As we walked back to the office Chris dropped his cookie on the hallway floor. Now this hallway is where all the trades guys track through during the day, so this cookie was a gonner. But Chris picked it up anyways.
So Chris and I were sitting at our desks an hour or so later. Chris stared at his cookie.
I asked, "Are you deciding whether to eat it or not?"
Chris says, "No, I'm deciding whether to throw it away or give it to someone I don’t like.”
“Who do you dislike enough that works here to give that disgusting cookie?”
“You.”
“Oh, ok. Well, I saw you drop the cookie ya know. So, I’m really curious how you are going to try and convince me to eat it.”
I should have been on my guard at this point. He’d already admitted that he had targeted me. But I wasn’t. Chris stands up, picks up his cookie, picks up my two identical cookies, and then puts them behind his back! He possibly mixes them around a bit and them sets all three cookies back on my desk. He just smirks and returns to his desk.
I was shocked! Now I didn’t know which one was the dirty cookie! It was a genius scheme that ranked up there with the Pepper and Ice Cream Scheme of St. Louis ‘10 and I walked right into it!
I decided that I had only two options: I could throw all the cookies away (tragedy!) or I could eat all the cookies (disgusting, but would get Chris back by making him feel bad). Thankfully, Chris offered to reveal the identity of the dirty cookie for a price. He had decided that he really wanted to eat one, so if I let him eat one of the clean cookies he’d tell me which one was the dirty one. I cut my losses and agreed. He walked over and just picked up a cookie and ate it! Ah!! I still didn’t know which one was the dirty cookie! He got me again!
After I fumed about this for awhile, Chris said to me in a very serious voice, “Rachel, after all that we’ve been through in our friendship, do you trust me?”
“Yes Chris, even though you steal and mess up my cookies I still trust you.”
“Ok. Well, I ate the dirty cookie.”
“What?! Why did you do that?”
I couldn’t believe he actually ate it! Well, actually I did believe him because I ate the other two (hopefully) clean cookies. He still tried to make me question this decision, but I still feel confident that he would have felt too bad if he had so thoroughly tricked me into actually eating the dirty cookie. Either way, it was one of the best schemes that has ever been played against me.
The Evil Stapler:
Chris and I have a lot of conversations about the technology in our office, which all has a habit of breaking. He knows a lot about such things so it’s usually him instructing me. Here are a few paraphrased transcripts:
Chris: “Oh, to be a printer. What a hard life that would be.”
Me: *Laughter*
Chris: “Rachel, have a little compassion.”
Me: “Please tell the scanner, copier, and printer I’m sorry. I don’t mean to belittle their experience. I just like dark humor.”
Chris: “I’ll tell them like R2D2 [using a technology interface language (sorry Chris if I explained that wrong)]. beep, beep, boop, boop” *hand gestures to accompany sound effects* “They all say they forgive you, except for the scanner.”
Rachel: “What?! That’s probably the one that I’m the nicest to.”
Chris: “Well, you just ruined that relationship didn’t you. Actually, he says he’s jealous of all the backrubs the printer gets.”
(I commonly rub the printer and speak nicely to it in order to try and prevent it from jamming. It usually works.)
Today was definitely my favorite though. We got a new electric stapler…
Chris: “Rachel! The new stapler is evil!! It has red eyes and red teeth!!” *uses fingers to create Monty-Python-rabbit-style-fangs* “It’s going to come and staple our toes!! Wherever you go the eyes follow you. We need to unite against this crisis. It’s going to get the printer and soon the phones on its side! The other staplers can be warriors against them!”
Chris then bravely stole the stapler schematics from the back copier area. I gave him a high five for this and he proceeded to research for a weakness. I agreed to join his alliance. We also tried to get another student, Whitney, to join our alliance but she seemed hesitant. I think she’ll come around when the evil stapler crisis gets worse.
Hehe, this is why Chris and I are friends. :D
Monday, June 14, 2010
All the Rest: 4 days in Cincinnati
Due to exhaustion, both my and Molly's patience levels were wearing thin by the time we got into Lafayette. Thankfully, we were able to sleep in a hotel that night and recharge our batteries. The next morning, Monday, we drove the three-ish hours back to Cincinnati.
I spent the next four days with Molly and her family in Cincinnati. One of the major benefits of having a culinary major for a best friend is that you have great connections to great food such as cheesecake, strawberry scones, and paninis. :)
Unforunately, since her school is year-round, Molly still had homework and class as well as work. The down side of that was more stress for poor Molly and us not getting to spend as much time together. The up side was I got to see Molly's school and spend some time with her family.
My last day there, Molly was free so we spent it at the zoo and The Cone. The Cone is a local ice cream stand that is shaped like giant ice cream cone. It and Ted Drew's in St. Louis are my favorite ice cream places on the planet. When Molly and I were younger our families used to visit these two places a lot. It was interesting walking down memory lane and seeing places that I hadn't seen since I was much shorter. Ironically, I thoroughly enjoyed this day of choosing to act like a child, but I was so frustrated just a few days before when I felt treated like a child. Hmm...interesting.
Thursday evening Molly took me to the airport and we said goodbye. My flight to Salt Lake went without a hitch. However, my connecting flight to Phoenix got grounded because of maintenance issues. Lame. Thankfully though, Delta did a good job and got us on a different plane within a half an hour. I almost missed the announcement for it they did it so quickly. I met a fellow prayer warrior on that plane: the high school kid behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to pray with him for the flight. I can only guess that he identified me by my David Crowder Band t-shirt. :)
Eventually, I landed safely on solid ground. I spent a few days with my family in Phoenix and now I'm here in beautiful Flagstaff. It feels good to be back and settled after all the craziness, especially now that my roommate Felicia is back! It certainly was an adventure. Now I guess I'll just have to see what the rest of the summer has to offer. :)
I spent the next four days with Molly and her family in Cincinnati. One of the major benefits of having a culinary major for a best friend is that you have great connections to great food such as cheesecake, strawberry scones, and paninis. :)
Unforunately, since her school is year-round, Molly still had homework and class as well as work. The down side of that was more stress for poor Molly and us not getting to spend as much time together. The up side was I got to see Molly's school and spend some time with her family.
My last day there, Molly was free so we spent it at the zoo and The Cone. The Cone is a local ice cream stand that is shaped like giant ice cream cone. It and Ted Drew's in St. Louis are my favorite ice cream places on the planet. When Molly and I were younger our families used to visit these two places a lot. It was interesting walking down memory lane and seeing places that I hadn't seen since I was much shorter. Ironically, I thoroughly enjoyed this day of choosing to act like a child, but I was so frustrated just a few days before when I felt treated like a child. Hmm...interesting.
Thursday evening Molly took me to the airport and we said goodbye. My flight to Salt Lake went without a hitch. However, my connecting flight to Phoenix got grounded because of maintenance issues. Lame. Thankfully though, Delta did a good job and got us on a different plane within a half an hour. I almost missed the announcement for it they did it so quickly. I met a fellow prayer warrior on that plane: the high school kid behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to pray with him for the flight. I can only guess that he identified me by my David Crowder Band t-shirt. :)
Eventually, I landed safely on solid ground. I spent a few days with my family in Phoenix and now I'm here in beautiful Flagstaff. It feels good to be back and settled after all the craziness, especially now that my roommate Felicia is back! It certainly was an adventure. Now I guess I'll just have to see what the rest of the summer has to offer. :)
Sunshine on Michigan Avenue: Chicago Day 3
Sunday was picturesque, sunny, and warm. It was literally the perfect day to walk around outside all day.
Molly had decided that she wanted to spend some quality family time with Jeremy and she knew that I wanted to spend some quality time with David. So, I woke up early that morning and took the train myself back to Jessica's apartment while Molly stayed to spend the day with her cousin.
David met me at the station. We waited for a bit at the apartment where Laura made us omelets. Without exaggeration they were some of the prettiest omelets I've ever seen, and they were the first Laura had ever made! The first time I made omletes they definitely did not look like that. That girl's got talent.
Eventually, David and I left and spent the afternoon walking hand in hand up and down Michigan Avenue. We got free chocolate at Ghiradelli's and Hershey's, looked at foreign Harry Potter covers in a European book store, perused a photography gallery, explored the 4 story Borders, rode the escalators in the Water Tower mall, and played in the Lego store (which was so cool!!). We also stood beside the river, watched a one man band, and saw this fascinating building that had rocks from all over the world embedded in it.
David bought me lunch at Einsteins and we just sat and talked for a long time. It was perfect because a patch of rain came right as we went in and cleared up by the time we left. :)
We met up with Jessica and Laura back at the apartment and left again to get coffee. I was salty because they gave me a hot chocolate when I ordered a hot chai, but the saltiness soon dissolved as Laura and David rocked out loud to "That's not My Name" (or whatever it's called) by the TingTings. Priceless.
The saddest thing about such incredible days is that they have to come to an end. David and Laura took me to Union Station, where after surviving a communication snafu, I met Molly to catch out Amtrak back to Lafayette. I gave a giant hug and quick goodbye-I'm-going-to-miss-you-like-crazy to David. Molly and I ran and jumped onto our train and we were gone...
Molly had decided that she wanted to spend some quality family time with Jeremy and she knew that I wanted to spend some quality time with David. So, I woke up early that morning and took the train myself back to Jessica's apartment while Molly stayed to spend the day with her cousin.
David met me at the station. We waited for a bit at the apartment where Laura made us omelets. Without exaggeration they were some of the prettiest omelets I've ever seen, and they were the first Laura had ever made! The first time I made omletes they definitely did not look like that. That girl's got talent.
Eventually, David and I left and spent the afternoon walking hand in hand up and down Michigan Avenue. We got free chocolate at Ghiradelli's and Hershey's, looked at foreign Harry Potter covers in a European book store, perused a photography gallery, explored the 4 story Borders, rode the escalators in the Water Tower mall, and played in the Lego store (which was so cool!!). We also stood beside the river, watched a one man band, and saw this fascinating building that had rocks from all over the world embedded in it.
David bought me lunch at Einsteins and we just sat and talked for a long time. It was perfect because a patch of rain came right as we went in and cleared up by the time we left. :)
We met up with Jessica and Laura back at the apartment and left again to get coffee. I was salty because they gave me a hot chocolate when I ordered a hot chai, but the saltiness soon dissolved as Laura and David rocked out loud to "That's not My Name" (or whatever it's called) by the TingTings. Priceless.
The saddest thing about such incredible days is that they have to come to an end. David and Laura took me to Union Station, where after surviving a communication snafu, I met Molly to catch out Amtrak back to Lafayette. I gave a giant hug and quick goodbye-I'm-going-to-miss-you-like-crazy to David. Molly and I ran and jumped onto our train and we were gone...
A Tall Glass of Water: Chicago Day 2
Saturday morning, our second day in Chicago, we watched the rain fall outside the windows of Nathan's apartment until around lunch time. The clouds cleared up and Nathan, Anka, Molly, and I all jumped on a metro train to Jeremy's side of town.
With Jeremy we hopped a few more buses to a local culinary legend: Hot Doug's. When we arrived at this hot dog stand the line wrapped out the door and almost a block down the sidewalk. I figured, if this many people are willing to wait this long for a hot dog, it must be good right? Molly and I passed the time mostly by talking with Jeremy, who has a great sense of humor. A moth came and landed on his chest and then flew away. He said "Ah, moths. They come and go out of your life so quickly." I added, "And steal your heart away." The three of us lamented this fact for several minutes and then laughed until we couldn't breathe.
Sure enough Hot Doug's food was amazing and worth the hour and a half wait. The best part though was catching the waiter dancing with a tray to "Dancing Queen". He stopped dancing and looked at me sheepishly when he saw me watching. He said, "I guess that was kinda weird huh?" I replied, "No, that was amazing!"
After Hot Dog's it was that strange goodbye to Nathan and Anka where Molly and I followed Jeremy into the middle of the street. Molly, Jeremy, and I critiqued Food Network chefs at Jeremy's until dinner time. Then, Molly and I caught the L train to go meet up with David Tollefsen at his older sister's apartment.
David's older sister, Jessica, is married and lives in an apartment right across the street from Moody Bible Institute. How cool is that? Molly and I rendezvoused with them successfully there. It felt so good to have the freedom to navigate on our own! I was a bit nervous to meet Jessica and her husband John for the first time, but it turned out I had no need to be.
That evening with David's family was like a tall glass of cold water after a day in the Phoenix sun. They welcomed Molly and I in with open arms and showed us incredible hospitality. They seemed to be genuinely glad that we were there and interested in getting to know us. It was the most at peace and rested I felt the entire trip. And the interesting thing was you could tell they weren't trying to go above and beyond, they were just being themselves. Especially with the contrast of the night before, their lifestyle reflected Jesus to me in one of the most tangible ways I've ever experienced.
We grilled dinner out on the roof of their apartment building until dusk. I got to talk to John about his vision for planting a church in Tucson as well as quote about 1/4 of the Princess Bride. At some point I got to talk to Jessica as well about her classes at Moody. It was also cool to get to know David's younger sister, Laura, a little better and see her open up some and be goofy. :) And, of course, it was great to just to be able to hang out and talk with David.
After dinner, we all went swimming in their apartment pool and hot tub and played around like little kids. When it got late, Molly and I were just going to take the train home, but John and David offered to drive us back to Jeremy's. Again, they offered without so much as a hint of annoyance or incovenience. They didn't do it out of obligation, they did it because they cared about us and wanted to do it. Even though they had just met us. Amazing.
Before bed, Molly, Jeremy, and I played a cut-throat (almost literally) game of Sorry! with Jeremy's girlfriend, Beth. It was definitely worth staying up until 2:30 am for! Beth kicked all our butts though, but Jeremy came in from behind to make it a close second.
Molly and I figured out all our plans for the next day and crashed.
With Jeremy we hopped a few more buses to a local culinary legend: Hot Doug's. When we arrived at this hot dog stand the line wrapped out the door and almost a block down the sidewalk. I figured, if this many people are willing to wait this long for a hot dog, it must be good right? Molly and I passed the time mostly by talking with Jeremy, who has a great sense of humor. A moth came and landed on his chest and then flew away. He said "Ah, moths. They come and go out of your life so quickly." I added, "And steal your heart away." The three of us lamented this fact for several minutes and then laughed until we couldn't breathe.
Sure enough Hot Doug's food was amazing and worth the hour and a half wait. The best part though was catching the waiter dancing with a tray to "Dancing Queen". He stopped dancing and looked at me sheepishly when he saw me watching. He said, "I guess that was kinda weird huh?" I replied, "No, that was amazing!"
After Hot Dog's it was that strange goodbye to Nathan and Anka where Molly and I followed Jeremy into the middle of the street. Molly, Jeremy, and I critiqued Food Network chefs at Jeremy's until dinner time. Then, Molly and I caught the L train to go meet up with David Tollefsen at his older sister's apartment.
David's older sister, Jessica, is married and lives in an apartment right across the street from Moody Bible Institute. How cool is that? Molly and I rendezvoused with them successfully there. It felt so good to have the freedom to navigate on our own! I was a bit nervous to meet Jessica and her husband John for the first time, but it turned out I had no need to be.
That evening with David's family was like a tall glass of cold water after a day in the Phoenix sun. They welcomed Molly and I in with open arms and showed us incredible hospitality. They seemed to be genuinely glad that we were there and interested in getting to know us. It was the most at peace and rested I felt the entire trip. And the interesting thing was you could tell they weren't trying to go above and beyond, they were just being themselves. Especially with the contrast of the night before, their lifestyle reflected Jesus to me in one of the most tangible ways I've ever experienced.
We grilled dinner out on the roof of their apartment building until dusk. I got to talk to John about his vision for planting a church in Tucson as well as quote about 1/4 of the Princess Bride. At some point I got to talk to Jessica as well about her classes at Moody. It was also cool to get to know David's younger sister, Laura, a little better and see her open up some and be goofy. :) And, of course, it was great to just to be able to hang out and talk with David.
After dinner, we all went swimming in their apartment pool and hot tub and played around like little kids. When it got late, Molly and I were just going to take the train home, but John and David offered to drive us back to Jeremy's. Again, they offered without so much as a hint of annoyance or incovenience. They didn't do it out of obligation, they did it because they cared about us and wanted to do it. Even though they had just met us. Amazing.
Before bed, Molly, Jeremy, and I played a cut-throat (almost literally) game of Sorry! with Jeremy's girlfriend, Beth. It was definitely worth staying up until 2:30 am for! Beth kicked all our butts though, but Jeremy came in from behind to make it a close second.
Molly and I figured out all our plans for the next day and crashed.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Impressionism: Chicago Day 1
Our first day in Chicago, Friday, was a bit like an impressionist painting. If you stand back a bit and stroke your chin as you take in the whole picture, you see that is it quite stunning and captivating. A work of art. However, if you step closer all you can see are smudges and dots, some even in ugly colors. As a whole, Friday was an amazing day; however, some of the details were frustrating smudges.
Friday can also be related to impressionism because we went to the Chicago Art Institute and viewed several beautiful impressionist paintings. It was breathtaking to be surrounded by exquisite works by Monet and Renoir. My favorites were Chrysanthemums and Seascape by Renoir. We walked around for several hours and saw a special exhibit of Matisse work and other paintings, including Nighthawks.
After lunch we walked around Millenium Park, which is sort of the same idea as Central Park. We saw "The Bean" sculpture, the actual name of which is "Cloudgate". I feel kind of sorry for the artist who created such an awesome work with an elegant name, only to have it referred to as a bean all the time. Haha, oh well. We also walked past Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan. We saw lots of flowers and sculptures and Nathan made up "tour information" for us as we went along.
Since we had been walking the whole afternoon and Molly didn't get much sleep we went back to rest at Nathan and his wife Anka's apartment. They live on the 44th floor in the heart of the city. The view was incredible!! It also had a revolving door. Molly and I found all the revolving doors in the city to be quite a novelty. Our guides always just laughed at us.
Friday night we took a taxi to Alhambra's Palace, a Middle Eastern restaurant with live music and dancers. I had delicious chicken tagine. It was interesting though because they had Spanish and Mexican flaminco dancers as the entertainment for the evening. Middle Eastern restaurant...Spanish dancers...hmmm, ok. Molly's other cousin, Jeremy (Nathan's brother), also joined us for dinner along with some of Nathan's friends. It was a fascinating cultural experience.
So, as you can see the day was a good one that definitely gave us a taste of Chicago. But, here are the smudges. I had hoped to be able to rendevous with David on Friday, but at the last minute it didn't work out timing and distance-wise, which was disappointing. I was very grateful to Nathan for being willing to take us around, but something about his attitude towards us made me feel dragged around like a 7 year old. I felt like he didn't trust us to figure anything out on our own and like he was bored of babysitting. This was not helped by the fact that after dinner we stayed at the restaurant for I would guess two more hours while Nathan proceeded to drink. You might know that I have bad experience personal issues with situations like that. Also, the music changed to blaring Middle Eastern music that prevented me from being able to hear Molly even if she was shouting next to me. When we finally arrived back at the apartment I slept on the couch in a jacket with a rolled up t-shirt as a pillow. These parts of the experience made me feel trapped, smothered, awkward, unwanted, and disrespected.
That's why I like the metaphor, though it might be stretched a little, of the impressionist painting. My overall impression of Chicago itself was good and I was excited to move on to the next day.
Friday can also be related to impressionism because we went to the Chicago Art Institute and viewed several beautiful impressionist paintings. It was breathtaking to be surrounded by exquisite works by Monet and Renoir. My favorites were Chrysanthemums and Seascape by Renoir. We walked around for several hours and saw a special exhibit of Matisse work and other paintings, including Nighthawks.
After lunch we walked around Millenium Park, which is sort of the same idea as Central Park. We saw "The Bean" sculpture, the actual name of which is "Cloudgate". I feel kind of sorry for the artist who created such an awesome work with an elegant name, only to have it referred to as a bean all the time. Haha, oh well. We also walked past Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan. We saw lots of flowers and sculptures and Nathan made up "tour information" for us as we went along.
Since we had been walking the whole afternoon and Molly didn't get much sleep we went back to rest at Nathan and his wife Anka's apartment. They live on the 44th floor in the heart of the city. The view was incredible!! It also had a revolving door. Molly and I found all the revolving doors in the city to be quite a novelty. Our guides always just laughed at us.
Friday night we took a taxi to Alhambra's Palace, a Middle Eastern restaurant with live music and dancers. I had delicious chicken tagine. It was interesting though because they had Spanish and Mexican flaminco dancers as the entertainment for the evening. Middle Eastern restaurant...Spanish dancers...hmmm, ok. Molly's other cousin, Jeremy (Nathan's brother), also joined us for dinner along with some of Nathan's friends. It was a fascinating cultural experience.
So, as you can see the day was a good one that definitely gave us a taste of Chicago. But, here are the smudges. I had hoped to be able to rendevous with David on Friday, but at the last minute it didn't work out timing and distance-wise, which was disappointing. I was very grateful to Nathan for being willing to take us around, but something about his attitude towards us made me feel dragged around like a 7 year old. I felt like he didn't trust us to figure anything out on our own and like he was bored of babysitting. This was not helped by the fact that after dinner we stayed at the restaurant for I would guess two more hours while Nathan proceeded to drink. You might know that I have bad experience personal issues with situations like that. Also, the music changed to blaring Middle Eastern music that prevented me from being able to hear Molly even if she was shouting next to me. When we finally arrived back at the apartment I slept on the couch in a jacket with a rolled up t-shirt as a pillow. These parts of the experience made me feel trapped, smothered, awkward, unwanted, and disrespected.
That's why I like the metaphor, though it might be stretched a little, of the impressionist painting. My overall impression of Chicago itself was good and I was excited to move on to the next day.
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