yay!

i'm going to uganda today!

don't worry... i will put lots and lots of pictures on here when i get back :)

pray for us!

*sigh*

as most of you probably know, i am not easily stressed. i just don't worry about things in general. i am more of a *freak out for a minute then get over it and figure out how to make it work* type of person... which i actually really like. but the last few days have been ridiculous. i should actually say, last thursday and then yesterday were ridiculous... the other days in between were just kinda fillers. last thursday i got an email from my recruiter telling me what i need to send for my korean visa. one of those things is my actual passport. now... since i am going to uganda in a week (EEE!), i can't really send off my passport. especially since i still don't have all the other things i need to send with it. and i can't wait til i get back, because i only have a week before i leave again! so... i was a little bit concerned. but after a frantic skype call with my recruiter, i realized that i don't have to send my stuff off to korea... just the korean consulate in san francisco. good to know. i also learned that you can get a duplicate passport for these exact situations.

that leads me to yesterday. i had made an appointment with the passport agency , and i had all this stuff ready that i needed to have in order to get the duplicate. but once i got there, greta (the lady i talked to) told me that i needed "proof of conflict," which means i needed my itinerary for my trip to korea. but i didn't have that yet because i was told not to buy it until i have my visa returned... which requires me to send my passport! so i cried and called my mom (another thing i don't do... cry *not call my mom... i do that like 18 times a day*) then i emailed my travel agent and told her i needed an itinerary and step on it (i said it nicer than that). well... here is where God started showing His goodness left and right!

i went to work and came back to find that the travel agent had sent me an itinerary after only like 3 hours! then i had an email from my recruiter saying my other visa documents were on the way! then i went back to the passport agency today and greta told me everything was perfect and i could come back at 11 to pick up my new passport (as opposed to waiting 3 business days and cutting it ridiculously close like i was first told i would have to)! that's actually where i'm headed next. and just now, while i'm stealing internet from the cherry creek library waiting for my passport... i got another email from pam (travel agent) saying that she found another itinerary for like $500 less!

so this has been a good morning... praise God!!

randoms

today i learned how to use a planer. in a dress.

*note the machine of majesty, the giant pile of shavings, and the freshly planed wood*

seriously... so cool

i am going to miss this view. i can't even tell you how many of this exact same picture i have, yet for some reason i always pull out the camera to take it. it never gets old...

tonight i decided to play with night photography... i've loved it ever since my freshman year of high school when one of my teachers showed us his night photos (he used a telescope and got pictures of galaxies and stuff... i can't do that.)

anyway... here's the big dipper. there's also a car going by and my neighbor's flag pole with a light underneath, but it's hard to tell when the picture is this small. this was only the second one i took, so i was pretty excited about it.

i like this dog. she likes to lay in this pile of sand that my dad has in our driveway... seriously she was there for like 4 hours. i think it's partially because she's old and had a hard time getting up. but also because she's a lazy fatty. i love it.

and here's a thought i've been having today: how cool would it be if owls could talk?! i think they would be super funny, full of dry sarcasm and witty banter.

God is good :)

my dad

so... yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of my dad donating his kidney. time flies... i wouldn't have even realized it if it hadn't been for my mom saying something about it in her facebook status.

that's partially because of the way my dad is. believe me... he's been through a lot since he had that surgery. but i probably wouldn't have known anything about it if my mom hadn't made him tell me, or just told me herself. apparently kidneys are kinda important... who knew? anyway... my dad is not one to bring attention to himself or tell you when something's wrong with him. so when his lone remaining kidney decided to crap out on him, he just passed it off like some minor little thing. it wasn't until my mom and david started worrying that i realized that it was a bigger deal than my dad was letting on. (seriously... i have no idea how bodies work or what kidneys do. well... now i kinda do, but not then. anyway...) but, in true my dad fashion, he kept the faith that God had everything in control. and he was obviously right. looking back, and even in the moments that things were happening, it is/was so clear that God had (and still has) everything in control. first, the doctor just so happened to be in my dad's mens' group at church. my parents didn't know this when they scheduled his appointment, and they even passed up on a sooner appointment with a different doctor to wait a month and see this one. awesome! and when all his numbers (don't ask me what they are or what they mean... i don't actually know. i know they're important though.) were not doing what they were supposed to do, it was scary. but he was covered in prayer, and when he went back for his last appointment a few months ago, the number that was the most worrisome had gone down! praise God! and the thing i love most about my dad is that he didn't attribute that to his change in habits (which i'm pretty sure he actually didn't do) or the good doctors (who actually couldn't have done anything), but he gives all the glory to God. and that's the way he lives his life. basically, my dad is awesome. and he's golden :)

so thanks for who you are, dad. and thanks for helping me and inspiring me to be who i am.

i love you

ole ole ole ole!

so... i wanted spain to win :)

partially because of this man. i don't care if he has been sucking and didn't play the whole game, then in the 5 or so minutes he was in he failed then he just fell on the ground out of nowhere and hurt his hamstring. he's dreamy.

apart from that, though, i just wanted them to win because i didn't think they would beat germany, so when they did i just wanted them to go all the way.

that whole gallery of pictures makes me chuckle... i love how they all just look like little kids who are so excited! rightfully so...

i also like how amidst all the fun spain pictures there will be a random one of some dutch player laying on the ground or crying. it seems like a buzzkill... until you go on to the next picture.

anyway... praise the Lord for the beautiful game :)

prayer request

hey! please pray for my brother bryan and his friend joyce in uganda. joyce is the sister of morris (the ugandan director of musana) and pipih (bryan's best friend there). she has HIV and is in the hospital right now. i know that bryan is having a really hard time, and it sucks not being able to be there for him. i don't really know a lot of details, but i know that God has everything in His hands and He is working through such a terrible situation...

so please, if you think of it, just take a few seconds to pray for bryan and his friends, for the doctors, for the whole family (morris, pipih, and joyce have other siblings as well), and for everyone at musana who i am sure is having a really hard time with all of this.

i am so thankful that God has blessed me with friends who love him and who pray! thank you for being those friends :)

it's been a while...

so i haven't really been blogging lately. apart from the obvious short little posts that could be facebook statuses if i did those...

it's weird... i guess i haven't really felt like i've had all that much to say. i still don't really. i feel like i've been so busy but really i haven't. i only work a few days a week (and the family i work for is gone until the 9th, so i've already had a week off and i have another week and a few days...). it's finally feeling like summer. i just finished my last tefl unit (praise God!), and i genuinely have nothing to do. it's a weird feeling. it's funny how all the times when i am busy and don't have a lot of down time, i wish that i just had nothing to do. but then when i actually don't have anything to do, i am bored. i guess now's the time to catch up on my fun reading! my life is in a weird place right now... i'm going to write about it because i can (and i have nothing else that is begging for my time). feel free to not read... this could get wordy.

stuff with korea is *kinda* coming together. i got all my visa documents in at the last possible second (seriously... i got them in at like 3 in the afternoon a couple weeks ago and the next morning i had an email from my recruiter saying that all the positions were filled and if anyone hadn't gotten them in by 5 they were not guaranteed a spot!) i'm still waiting on the next documents and to find out where i will be placed. i won't be surprised if i have about 2 weeks to book a flight and get everything ready by the time i find out... but it's okay. it's all in God's hands.

that's another thing that's been going on. really, i guess it's something that hasn't been going on. even with all my free time, i have somehow managed to completely stop spending time with God. it's not like it has been before, where i really just don't see Him working or i don't desire to spend time with Him. it's really been more like... i just haven't really thought about it. i've just been waking up and going along with my days without even thinking about the fact that i hadn't touched my Bible or talked to Him in i don't even know how long. it's weird though because i've still been trusting Him. i've still known that He's there and He's in control. i've still been telling myself and everyone else that, and truly believing it. it's just my side of the relationship that i've been failing at. that makes me sad. this morning it really hit me and i had some good time with Him. i didn't have any amazing revelations or get any sudden peace or understanding about life... it was just nice to be with Him. i've really missed that. it's something that i'm looking forward to getting back into. i think sometimes life just gets in the way... and it's not even that it's so overwhelming or busy... it's just that it's all i think about. i'm just thinking about different things in my life all the time, and when i want to escape i turn to some mindless book or show and forget about what's going on for a little bit. i don't think that's too uncommon... but i don't like it.

anyway... there's that.

it's funny because really there are so many things lately that i've seen God doing that i've been getting so excited about! probably one of the biggest is what's going on with my favorite little brother. he's doing so well in uganda, and it's so exciting to read and see and hear about what God is doing through him... i can't wait to visit and see firsthand! that's another thing... i get to go to uganda! i guess it's not technically 100% for sure (more like 95 i would say...), but i'm most likely going with my mom at the very end of this month. i am so excited! i miss my brother and i can't wait to see him and see his kids and his life!

then pretty much right after that i'll be leaving for korea... which i am also incredibly excited about. it's funny because i'm really excited, but i'm still not in any rush. i think it's because i know that i'll be there for a long time... there's really no need for me to be in any hurry to get there. i know that i'm going to miss home, so i'm trying to take advantage of the time i have left here. but i am stoked. i think it'll get even more exciting and real once i know where i'm going and exactly when... that will be wonderful.

speaking of wonderful... it hit me the other day that i only have like 2-3 more weeks with my girls once i factor in the time until they get back and the time i'll leave for uganda! that's really sad... i love them. i'm going to miss them. stinkin precious little peanuts.

okay... i need to stop writing this now.

praise God for being so good... and for everything He's done and is doing in my life and the lives of the people i love.