Summer Update

Like the title says this is a summer update and my first update, ever.

I'm in Denver, CO right now on my week long vacation. Tomorrow my mom and brother are flying in and we are driving to Aspen until Saturday and then they are coming to the ranch with me until Tuesday.

For those of you who don't know I'm working at Young Life's Wilderness Ranch this summer in nowhere Colorado. Wilderness is a backpacking camp that is associated with Young Life but from what I've gathered is not much like other Young Life camps.  I'm interning this summer, working at base camp, running the camp store, being the cabin hostess and cleaning toilets. I've picked up various skills such as working a cash register, folding t-shirts with perfection, being nice to people i don't like, plunging  toilets, getting poop out of toilets that are too stopped up to plunge, reading, not reading books like The Shack and Irresistible Revolution, learning French, and working with old people, and playing with babies.

The ranch is in San Luis Valley where the highest form of technology is the Hobart. So besides the day trips I get to take once a week to town this is my first time in the real world. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying your summer. I'm gonna try to post some ranch pictures on my flickr page soon. Miss you guys, if you want to get in touch give me a call this week --850-341-0427 and if you want to send me mail  its: 

2000 Forest Service Rd. #521

Creede, CO 81130 

SUMMER PROJECT*Calling all Birminghamians

Hey guys,

Keith and I went on a sweet trip to Philadelphia this weekend. More about that later. But on the way back we had a 4 hour layover in Nashville. (yes i am aware that it takes less time than that to drive from Nashville to Birmingham, which was slightly frustrating, but in a way we were captive to just relaxing, and that wasn't all bad.) To pass the time we picked up and issue of GOOD magazine, which, i recommend. In it, is a project that i think would be quite fun for us, calling readers to basically make a video promoting their hometown. the prize is a couple of roundtrip plane tickets, but really it would just be something fun to do together and celebrate our great city. anyone interested???

New Addition

Seeing as Kimberly/KP and I are now one flesh, I've decided to invite her to the blog. Not like she hasn't been reading it since it's creation anyway.

It was great to see everyone that came to the wedding. We almost had a whole house picture which was pretty sweet. Sadly, Mike and Andrew missed out on it. For those that weren't there, we missed you, but we're happy to report that everything was great. The honeymoon in San Diego was also pretty sweet. Definitely a nice break from the 90 degree weather with 90% humidity here.

KP is now an official Louisvillian and is trying to get our apartment settled while I'm working for the summer. My job has been pretty crazy the past few days. I'm doing research at a children's hospital and everything was going smoothly until I let it slip that I minored in Spanish. Yesterday I was going about my usual work day when one of the nurses I work with called me into her office to inform me that she had a lady on the phone who only spoke Spanish and that it was my job to tell her about our study and to set up an appointment for her to come to the office. Despite my protests, I found myself holding the phone and listening to a seeminlgy endless trail of words that I didn't understand coming from the other end. Miraculously, I was able to remember a few words and managed to set up an appointment for her. Since then I have become the official Spanish speaker in the office and have had several more Spanish phone conversations. I'm beginning to remember more of it though, and the past few phone conversations have actually been pretty smooth. So yeah, can't say I was planning on a refresher course in Spanish through my job this summer, but that's what I'm getting.

Anyway, so far marriage is great. I recommend it.

Here's the picture of the house from the wedding...we'll post more pictures on facebook soon.

Address Update Time

It's summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which is a convenient time to update our address spreadsheet. Many of you probably forgot we even had an address spreadsheet, which only proves that you aren't writing enough letters. You can find the spreadsheet on Google Docs. Anyone can edit it, even without a Google account. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Edit the Page." If that's too much trouble, write your updated address, cell phone, email, etc. in a comment on this post.

The following people definitely need to update their addresses:

• Dwight Castle


• Emily Bourke


• Josh Bradford


• Erin Eades


• Parks Gettys


• John Lambuth


• Nick Pritchard


• Brian Sharon


• Lee Wright

So, help a brother out and tell me where you are. Keep it real. Keep it local.

Pat

Straw Sighting!!

Look what I found! I stumbled upon the blog of a friend of mine, who is also in Ethiopia with Kristen. As i looked through her pictures I uncovered this beautiful face, and I knew you guys would want a glimpse. Kristen, I hope you dont mind :)
there are more, you should check it out. It made me happy. (I don't know why this is still a link.)

bush, dobson, and seacrest

Sometimes I wonder where I live. I know my address says KL. Last time I looked at the map KL was about as far as you can get from my sweet home Alabama. If you go any further, you're going home. However, there are little things that remind me of home; things that I never expected to find half-way around the world.

G Dub. Now I realize that Bush is recognized outside of the U.S. and his decisions can effect people globally. But I never realized how much people around the world cared. Until I saw the billboard. I wish I had a picture to show you. It has more to do with the upcoming election than with GW. It had a big picture of Hilary and Obama and a small pic of McCain. It read, "Who will sweep up the mess Bush has left for us?" People here know more about U.S. politics than I even care to know (I realize that I need to know more and car more; I'm working on this...mainly so I can keep up with the q's I get asked by people here). This makes me feel that I am back in my high school AP History class where we had to compare the presidential candidates for the upcoming elections.

James Dobson. A well recognized radio host and founder of Focus on the Family. In Colorado. I thought the continental US was as far as his reach went. Or maybe just the Bible belt. Then I heard the clip. In the Giant Supermarket (that's the name of the supermarket. it's medium sized.). As I was browsing for my favorite type of cereal, I heard, "And now a message from James Dobson, your family man." James proceeded to give practical advice about how to raise children in a healthy environment...something about giving them boundaries. I frequent this store almost once a week (I really like my cereal) and I hear a different clip from Dobson every time I'm in the store. Who knew CO could broadcast so far?

Ryan Seacrest. I have a TV. I don't have cable. I get 5 channels: 2 are usually in some chinese dialect (with bahasa subtitles); 1 in bahasa (with chinese subtitles; 1 in tamil (with bahasa subtitles); 1 is sometimes in English (with bahasa subtitles). For the first time in my life, I faithfully watched the final month of American Idol. I was a David Cook fan. But this isn't the kicker. On the radio every weekend I hear America's Top 40 with host Ryan Seacrest. This is the popular music here. I haven't found any stations that broadcast Mal. Top 40.

But they do have So You Think You Can Dance?, Mal. style. I guess I'm not in America after all.

side note: thanks for the bday cards and gifts! it was hard to beat the memory lane bday but it was a great bday!

The Sandman Motel

First, I must send my apologies out to any & everyone who is used to me being a good friend and keeping in great contact during the summer time. I do believe that this summer is certain to be the busiest, hardest, most stretching, perhaps most rewarding summer of my life.

I'm down in Ft. Walton on Beach Project with Campus Outreach, where I've been for the past two weeks and will be for about nine more. My job, as "team leader," is essentially to oversee my "team," consisting of three room leaders and their nine "disciples." Needless to say that being made to pray for, think for, and plan for all of these people has been quite draining, but God has been faithful thus far to continue to fill me up.

I miss you guys pretty terribly. I'm glad that I'm being made to be so much more intentional down here, because I think it'll help me be that way when I get home. Community needs intentionality or it denigrates to something wholly less beneficial for all. I wish I could be there with you guys, too, or- better yet- bring you here (at least for a time), so we could all be made to grow closer together and closer to the cross. I wish I had been there when Erin got home...

Two guys on my team that you can pray for: Brian Dunn, a self-declared agnostic who has tried to kill himself twice and is beginning to see how God is grabbing a hold of him, and Jared Salmon, a sophomore Sigma Nu who realized, I think yesterday, that he doesn't really have a relationship with God.

Less sad note about being here: Yesterday, I missed TWO ex-girlfriend weddings. Hurrah.

Write me! Matt Francisco, SBP 1

480 Santa Rosa Blvd.

Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548

a long undone update... now that i have alot of time on my hands

well to be honest it's the same amount of time i've always had on my hands it's just that nobody is awake now while i have free time. :) so yes many changes in life right now... biggest news of all being that i was promoted at Fox... for lack of a better word... FINALLY. But yes i'm quite excited about it. I am an associate producer now, which means no more tapes, and instead i'm actually writing the news, picking out important stories etc.
really im just helping the producers though, but Jason who is the Executive Producer, and the one in charge of me, has already made it clear that his primary role for me is to learn to be a full time producer, so that i could take the place of people when they call in sick or are on vacation or something like that, and eventually i'll hopefully get my own spot.
I'm very excited about that because it should be excellent training, and it means that even if i dont get a ull time position with fox in a little while, i have the experience to get a full time position at another big market somewhere else.
The reason that i am up so late all the time is because this shift is working on the morning show, whihch means i stay awake until the morning show, and then go to sleep... i'm awake now cuz i dont want to throw off my schedule.
im still enjoying starbucks as well, which i received a $1 an hour raise there, so that's nice too. I am much better off financially then i was a month ago... not that i was struggling... i'm just cheap, as lindsay helmbock would say.
well this is a fairly sad weekend right now. because cliff, matt and joseph... two of whom are our new roomates, have gone down to beach project for the summer. also ryan went to see his fam, and keith and elaine are leaving tomorrow. so its me and pat... but we are having baileys bachelor party tomorrow so that should be fun. (i understand that pat is planning on stripping)
other big news, my parents have informed me that if i want to come to egypt for christmas, that they will pay my way! that's awesome, and i'm super excited about the prospect of it, but i need to make sure i can get the time off, and i'm trying to convince kristen to come visit me during the time there too (everybody write to her and pressure her to come up)
I love you all and miss everyone who's not here.

This is a girl with a curl.

If any of you Birminghamians have been wondering where the Davis' have been for the last couple days, let me tell you. We've been attending a workshop to become certified to teach adult literacy. In some ways, we resisted committing to both the workshop and taking on students, but i think after last night, we both may soon be paired up with adults who will come to us seeking to learn how to read. It's a pretty amazing concept. My brain really doesnt know how to comprehend not knowing how to read. I honestly dont have the slightest recollection of learning how to read. I remember my parents reading to me profusely as a small child and then i have a vague memory of finishing my first "chapter book." but the effort that must have occurred somewhere in between is completely lost. I remember going to the library and checking out about 15 books at a time every week. and in elementary school the library in out neighborhood (the county library was literally in our subdivision) was our daily hang out.
In alabama 1 in 4 adults reads below a 6th grade reading level. The average adult reading level for the state is 8th grade. I guess the only way to begin to comprehend it is the feeling of being in another country and not understanding any of the signs around. I know that I totally take reading for granted. In a few weeks we will meet our adult students and teach them this chart: this is a bird with his tail in the air. say "bird." this is a letter that looks like a bird with his tail in the air. say "bird." this is the word bird, read "bird." the word bird begins with the sound "buh" say "buh." the name of the letter that makes the sound "buh" is "b" say "b." and so on. According to our teacher the success rates for these students is pretty high. most of them don't have a learning disability, aren't stupid, just for one reason or another, never learned how to read. Many examples were of kids who had to take on a lot of family responsibility at a young age and missed the crucial learning. The program we're doing also uses the bible to teach. every week the student learns how to read a Bible verse. It is beautiful and exciting to know God's heart for reading is so big that he chose to communicate his word to the world in written form. What an incredible thing to introduce to someone. I'm humbled, a little scared, and excited.

A Little Comparative Geography Lesson

Since graduating, I've found myself taking on small projects to keep myself occupied. Often this involves amateur cartography. I spent a fair part of my weekend making a map, and then I worked on another while I was bored at work today. This one is a diagram comparing the relative sizes of cities. I was inspired by a comment Elaine made in Charleston. Hopefully this will enlighten your understanding of your world.

PDF: Comparative Size of Cities.

My other map in on my USB drive, which has gone missing. Hopefully I'll finish and post it soon.