so don't tell my parents...

but i got the official word yesterday that i'll be staying in DC with Bread for the World at least til the end of June! yaaaaayy! i unfortunately haven't made it around to telling my family yet, so keep those lips tight! (since i know you all chat with johnny and debbie on a daily basis) i'm really excited about the news, which is a great thing, because if i had been told i was staying at the end of last week i think feelings would have been very mixed. i went through this spell of reflective loneliness and was missing you all more than ever - plus i wasn't sure if i was contributing anything really meaningful at work, but God is good and is again assuring me that I am where He wants me.

in other news, i saw nancy pelosi (speaker of the house) at the capitol building this week, i went an entire day eating nothing but ice cream (and a lot of it!), and i talked with/listened to a homeless man for at least half an hour at the post office on thursday. i plan to post on my blog about the conversation sometime soon. when asked for his name, he told me, "I am the mountain of zion." i've never met a mountain before.

i also talked to kristen just now on the phone. she's doing well - keep praying for her!
your friendship is so special to me. i love and miss you all!

sorry to post about the same thing for a second time... but my dad just called with an update, and it's got me pretty worried now. at this point, there are 14 separate wildfires in southern california... and they've just evacuated tons of houses in the town next to ours. my friend peter's back yard is on fire and they're trying to keep it from reaching his/the neighbors' houses. they've closed down one of the highways that runs through my town b/c the smoke is too thick to see enough to drive, and ashes are falling on our street. so far authorities say my town is still okay... but we have several close friends who've already had to evacuate. so... yeah, please keep praying about it.

pray that my house doesn't burn down.

my dad called today to tell me that there are pretty bad wildfires happening back home right now. they've already burnt thousands of acres, and so far there hasn't been any luck containing them because it's the Santa Ana Winds season (hot dry winds with windspeeds that are faster than you drive sometimes) and the winds are blowing the flames all over the place. today the fires changed direction, and they're now heading toward the cluster of cities where i'm from. no real threat yet, but if yall could just pray for safety for my friends and my family, and for everyone out there in general.

thanks.

Oh Samford alma mater true

So, this past weekend was Homecoming here at the good ole SU. Funny how we are all (well, mostly all) alumni, yet I'm pretty sure I didn't see a single one of you guys this weekend! Regardless, as a University Relations employee, I spent the entirety of the weekend working. It was definitley very busy, but in retrospect, it was lots of fun.

Friday consisted of preparation for the weekend, Alumni Association Meeting (just a ps- if you graduate from Samford, you are in the Alumni Association, no dues, so you can be involved in anything we do), and then the Gala dinner. That's right, "Gala". Not exactly an appropriate title for what actually took place, but it was a grand event. There were 500+ people in attendance for the dinner that dedicated the Hanna Center (which is amazing, you should go check it out), celebrated the 50th anniversary of our campus' move to Shades Valley, honored our 4 alumni of the year, and thanked a bunch of philanthropists for supporting Samford. It lasted 3 hours and was very... entertaining. I have lots of stories, just ask poor Jamie who had to hear them all at midnight on Friday.

Saturday: driving the Admissions Office's golf buses to pick up haggardly old people and take them wherever they needed to go, pass out name tags and schmooze (word?) with folks in the President's box, more golf bus driving, more schmoozing at the Little Big Town concert, and the night ended with even more driving. It was lots of fun, I met lots of great/interesting people who really, and I mean REALLY love this place. Friday night especially made me really proud to be a Samford alum.

A few brief notes: 1) old people can talk. Two of the alumni of the year gave 20 minute acceptance speeches. They were told they had 1. 2) There is an awesome/disturbing portrait of Pete Hanna in the new center. It involves him riding a motorcycle. Check it out. 3) Driving golf buses (or limos as they have also been called) can be a blast. Driving regular golf carts that don't have headlights at night- not as much fun and a little bit scary. 4) It really is a blessing to have gone to a school (and to now work for a school) that has such a rich history and that has provided us with the education and the experience we have had. I think this is a really special place.

Mr. Wazoskey

A couple of weeks ago I ventured out to Emily and Jamie's house to spend the night. It was already lateish... Emily had already gone to bed. I went up to find my spot in Jamie's bed. Jamie was on the phone sounding really excited- of course she was, it was Will Weir! They were having one of those deep conversations about God and both saying amazing things that could be published or something. Anyway, 2 hours later...1 am ish I think, Jamie ran in all inspired and woke me up from my REM sleep by asking me how had I grown spiritually this year. I couldnt remember where I was but I did remember that Jamie just had an awesome conversation with Will. Poop, I had to come up with something awesome fast. I dont remember but I think I cracked under pressure and just said she could pray for a "silent"(aka..."unspoken"...the answer middle schoolers give when their youth pastor forces them to say something holy during Sunday School...hope this clears up the confusion).

Below is a picture that when I look at it, I get ticked. I get ticked because I risked my life for this lamo picture that didnt even turn out that well. Dang, if only I could have been Sarah Mac for a second. Caroline Janas and I sneaked up to this huge buck in Colorado. We didnt realize these things killed people until after I got the picture.

Injera makes you gassy.

I had one of the most tragic conversations of my life today in language class. We're learning about food…

Me: do you have grapes here?
Teacher: grapes? I don't know. I have never seen them.
Me: you've never eaten a grape?
Teacher: what? No. I have never seen them.

There were tears.

We found out today what region we will be sent to in December. I'll be going to the Amhara region in the north. This is excellent for many reasons: hiking in the Simien Mountains, ancient rock churches in Lalibela, the Nile, most of the girls I've gotten close to are going to the same region, I will only have to learn one language…. I'm pretty excited about it. Moral of this story- when (WHEN) you all come to visit, we will have lots of exploring to do. You should hurry and come.

In conclusion… the latest malaria dream:

Money Mike, Will, John, and Jamie came to visit. Money Mike's glasses got stolen. There were monkeys involved. John did something dumb (details are fuzzy) and did not come out in one piece. The monkeys won. Will, Jamie, and I just stood by and watched. Money also met an unfortunate demise, the details of which are also fuzzy.

I miss intentional conversations, soccer games with friends, family dinners, and knowing what's going on with the Office. But mostly just knowing what's going on with you all.

(Kris had me post this for her.)

She said yes!

This morning I found myself awake at 5:30am, so I made my way down to Franklin to catch Kimberly before work and propose. Fortunately, she said yes and we're getting married on June 7th...so save the date :)

it's like a marathon, except measured in interviews

today's the big day at uab-- i'm in town to do the whole interview/meet-and-greet thing with the School of Dentistry and the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering. first things first, i'm gonna sleep for 6 or so hours... then wake up and head to campus for a full day of meetings starting at 8:30am and going pretty much nonstop until around 8:00pm other than a break for lunch and a dinner with current students at the end. i'm supposed to meet/interview with 10 different professors-- i have no idea what i'm gonna talk about after i meet the first few. i'm thinking about rigging my tie with a speaker that'll play while i just move my mouth. it's an engineering department-- they'd be into that as long as i built it myself, right?

mind saying a prayer for me? specifically, pray that i'll have the stamina to pull off a full day of interviews. i'm pretty tired from working the closing shifts all week at starbucks and driving down here today.

thanks.
i'll keep you posted.
and no, i haven't changed my mind yet.

Finally something to be happy about

So. Since I am still pushing my way through my last semester of school (I can't hardly wait to be done), I don't have too much excitement in my life. Most of my days are spent at work, in extremely boring meetings with my nursing preceptor, or sitting in class listening to pointless lectures.
However, this last week has given me just enough happiness and excitement to make it through the remaining weeks. Not only did I find I wonderful house to rent in the Crestwood area (you are all invited to come visit by the way. I have plenty of room for all of you!) but I also got a job at Children's. I am so excited that everything is falling into place. It is such a stress reliever and a great reminder of how great God is.

I'm taking my pink cup

I don't care what they say. It's coming with me. They said to pack light. My pink cup's light. "Why would you bring that cup," some of you may ask. read on...

Some of you may remember I spent most of my college career with a pink cup in my hand.

The cup accompanied me through 2 years of 4 hour daily classes in the education building which reminds me of my 28 education major friends and our never-ending projects, which were daunted by our lack of technological knowledge.

The cup went with me to my student teaching assignments every morning; it reminds me of those 5th graders who called me bad words but loved me deep down...it reminds me of those toothless grins my 1st graders gave me every morning along with pictures they'd drawn for me.

The cup also made it's way to the caf and the food court for Food Court Fridays where I have wonderful memories of the chocolate chip cookies from the caf...and of all of you and the plans we'd make for the weekend...like playing soccer and then going to Dwight's apartment and jumping (or being thrown) in the pool with our soccer clothes on and Steven Bonham shivering while we played that movie game in the water...

The cup was a gift from one of my best friends from high school. I shan't go into those memories.

I don't know if I ever washed the cup while I was in school (it usually just had water in it...maybe it got washed once or twice). I've washed it since I've been home but it still reminds me of you guys.

I'm taking my pink cup to Richmond on Monday. Don't even try to stop me.