schMORGANsborg

from another blog, but I thought it was a great question. 

What is the one thing that you wish you could ask/say in church?

I have a few….

1.  I like Mike’s Hard Lemonade…berry flavor…it’s delicious.

2.  I suck at praying…I know God tells us to and I guess that should be enough, but I still don’t understand the point of praying most of the time.

3.  I think I might be a socialist…not that I think our country should be, but I think I might think that the church should be.  Dad, don’t beat me. 

4.  And I’m not sure this is related at all…but I would love to punch the "token christian guy" on The Bachelorette in the face.  Dude we know you’re a virgin…and I’m glad you are…that’s awesome.  But seriously…you’ve told us about 60 different times…we know…get a new line.

Ok, your turn…be brave:)

whales kick fish butt.  They’re only at wal-mart and I guess they’re a knock-off version of goldfish, but take it from me…whales are SO much better.  I didn’t believe a girl on the trip when she told me this….but after a taste I was converted.  Go get some.

made this one for Kel’s little sister.  She graduated from HCA last friday.  My writing leaves something to be desired, but all in all I think it turned out ok.  It’s hard to tell, but the whole cake and the stars are painted gold.  

I didn’t exactly learn this in Guatemala, but I saw this the Friday before I left on my way home from work…and I was already in The Guat mode…so it counts.

Apparently it is now cool for young men to sport brightly colored little kid book bags.  Seriously?  When did this start being ok?  

I seriously could get by on so much less than I have. 

This is most of our team and the family in front of the house that we built for them. 

Today is Seleta’s bday.  All you really need to know about our relationship is that when she was a mere freshman in high school she asked me…the much cooler sophomore:) who she didn’t know at all…to go to a braves game with her and her fam.  Sound completely random and weird?  It was…but I went and we’ve been bff ever since. 

Things I love about Seleta:

1.  I know she will always tell me the truth…no matter what. 

2.  She’s just as sarcastic and ruthless as I am…which makes me feel better about myself.

3.  She laughs at everything…and she has a really loud laugh…and that makes me laugh. 

4.  She motivates me to work out…or tells me to screw it and eat another piece of cake.

5.  She is who she is…take it or leave it…I took it.  

Happy Birthday Weeta!  Hope you’re enjoying your massage you punk:)

Lesson #1

Sarcasm is 90% of my personality.  You take that away and I really don’t have much to say.  I couldn’t really use my gift of smart a-ness on the trip because I didn’t know the people…and you can’t be a smart a to strangers.  Cause they don’t know you’re a smart a…they think you’re just an a. 

This is the hotel we stayed at.  

Ok, I’m going to attempt this post now….there was just so much that went on last week it’s hard to organize it all into one little post and for it to make sense.  So this is my best try at that.  Also, I seem to have caught the Guatemalan coughing disease….or just a cold…depending on how dramatic I’m being….therefore my thoughts are a little more loopy than usual…bear with me.

Sunday we met at the airport bright and early.  Mom and Dad dropped me off cause they’re awesome like that.  I had just found out a couple days before that the only person I knew on the trip (Russ) wasn’t going anymore.  Awesome:)  As I was unloading my bags out of the car some people I recognized walked by.  I smiled at them…they didn’t acknowledge my existence.  This was going to be a fun trip.

When I got into the airport there were already a good amount of people there…some I recognized…some I didn’t.  A couple people remembered me and said hey…that was nice.  There began my role as the awkward girl standing by herself that no one knows.

We made our way through the airport…had some chill time…which always sucks for awkward girl…but I was surviving.  I knew before I came that this was going to be uncomfortable for me…I knew I was going to have to put in 110% effort and really put myself out there.  I’m still not sure why I decided that putting myself in this situation was a good idea.  I mean at this point in my life I know my strengths and weaknesses pretty well…and thriving in a large group of people that I don’t know has never been one of my strengths.  Rebecca called it ballsy….I call it stupid:) 

Once we got on the plane I found my seat next to a really nice girl.  We talked a little throughout the flight and watched 27 dresses….cute movie ps.  After the plane ride we got on a school bus and rode 4 hours to San Pedro where we would spend the week. 

Once we arrived in San Pedro we ate dinner….hotdogs…welcome to Guatemala:)  Then we reviewed some information and I pretty much crashed as soon as I went in my room.

The next day we split up into two teams and went to our worksites to start building the houses.  It was kind of a hike up to our house and I was already sweating my ace off by the time we got there.  I quickly got over any notions of looking even half-way presentable.  We worked until lunch and then went back to the hotel to eat.  Then we went back and worked some more.  That was pretty much the routine everyday.  Work…eat…work some more….eat some more.  Each night we had a little group devotional and then we were free to do whatever we wanted to.  By the end of the second night I was done.  I was physically exhausted and I was emotionally worn out.  I had been trying so hard to be outgoing and to make friends but to no avail.  I just wanted to go home where people knew me…where they already loved me…where I didn’t have to try.  But as the Mikeism goes…wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which one fills up first.  I was in Guatemala and I was just going to have to deal with it.

We got a lot of work done that week….saw a lot of stuff…and believe it or not I actually started to make friends.  By the end of the week I felt that I had made some genuine friendships.  And then it was time to go.  What?!  All this hard work and I was actually getting somewhere and now we’re done…and I’ll probably never see those people again.  So it was kind of a weird trip for me.

I expected it to be all about the people of Guatemala….but instead it was more about the people I was with from America.  It’s always a weird feeling coming back from a mission trip…one that I can’t ever put into words.  This trip is no different.  I don’t think He is quite done teaching me from this trip.  I’ve always been a little slow so He gives me the lessons in pieces:)  I’ll let you know as they come. 

For now I can say that I truly had a good time.  We did a lot of earthly good for some people and I pray that they saw our Father in that.  I managed to make some friends even if I was the awkward girl most of the time:)  And I was once again reminded of the complete excess that I live in.

Thank you for all of your prays and support.  Sorry this story isn’t filled with profound, life-changing moments but hey…that’s life right:)       

ok, I know I didn’t write about my trip today….I’m still trying to gather my thoughts…and Kristy told me I didn’t have to cave to blog pressure:)  I’ll try to get some stuff up tomorrow.  promise:) 

It’s gettin’ to be that time.  The end of the day is quickly approaching and since I’m still too cheap to have the internet at my house this will be my last post for a while.  I’m leaving on Sunday to head down to Guatemala.  I’m excited…nervous…a little of everything I guess.

If you think about it send up a prayer for us.  That we would proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.  And that they would see our good works and praise our Father in heaven.

Love yall!  Peace…I’m out.  

Yes, you read that right.  I take a vitamin every morning…cause my mom says it will give me more energy and I’m a good girl who does what my mom tells me to:)  All the vitamins I’ve taken in the past have tasted and smelled disgusting.  I got used to it though…just figured that was the nature of the beast.  Well now I’m taking a new vitamin.  And in a vain attempt to cover up the crap taste they added "natural vanilla flavor".  So now I take a vitamin that tastes and smells like vanilla flavored poop.  I literally almost gag every time I put one in my mouth…but vitamins are too expensive to just throw away.  I even stopped taking them for a couple of weeks because they were grossing me out so bad, but I missed the way they made my pee glow (strange how the vitamins gross me out, but talking about pee and poop doesn’t) so I started back.  Now I’m back to forcing one down every morning all in the name of health.  Word to the wise…if something tastes like poop, there’s no covering it up…just leave it alone and let it taste like poop.  Cause the only thing worse than poop is vanilla flavored poop. 

I hope you all enjoyed this descriptive blog.  If you didn’t get your fill of poop talk you can go here and see what Rebecca has to say about it.  

That stands for blogging in action.  I must admit when I first got the email that we needed to collect shoes to take with us to Guatemala I was a little concerned.  How was I supposed to get people to give me their shoes?  I already sent out a support letter asking for money…now I have to ask them for shoes too?  If you haven’t noticed I HATE asking people for things…anything.  So I thought I would go out on a limb and just put it on my blog.  I mean it couldn’t hurt right?  At least that way when I showed up with one pair of shoes I could truthfully say that I had tried. 

Well…I have been totally blown away!  I have more shoes than I can carry and I didn’t verbally ask a single person for shoes.  Thank you ALL soooo much for the shoes that you gave me.  I even had some shipped to me from Texas!  Yall are all awesome!  I guess blogging is good for something after all:)   

I help out with a college small group on Sunday nights.  Last night we had our last meeting of the year.  I love these girls…its crazy how God just gives you a special love for people.  Here are a few of the girls.

This was Chelsie’s idea for a good pic….genius:)

On another note…I think I’ve finally mastered my smile too, Heather.  I generally hate all pictures of myself.  So I figure if I’m going to look stupid I might as well go all out….go big or go home…that’s my motto.  enjoy.

I need one.  So I can take pictures of people without them knowing….ok, that’s sounds a lot creepier written out than it did in my head.  See there was this guy in kinkos the other day and his crack was straight hanging out.  It was awful.  I so wished that I had an iphone so I could inconspicuously snap a pic and share it with all of you.  Aren’t you all so sad that you didn’t get to enjoy some random crack?  Maybe I don’t need an ipone.