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| I haven't updated lately, but only because I don't do anything these days. (Just ask Sarah, she'll tell you all about it. I don't mind her, she's just jealous.  ) The wedding plans are coming along, slowly, but surely and all because Sarah is doing nearly-everything to everything, because I'm lame like that. The next couple weekends should be lots of fun, with weddings and Cedar Point and the Dells. GO USA soccer tomorrow!!
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| 2 classes done by 10 am tomorrow morning. 2 more to go=3 take-home exams. Might be around for parts of America May, may even bring back "the lyric game" if I am ambitious/bored/avoiding work. In Durham for the whole summer sans trips to weddings and home. If you're reading this, you should come visit, my fiancee ( ) and I would love it, plus it would give me a thinly veiled excuse to go to the beach. Holla!
(That's right, I said holla!)
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| Just got back from Spring Break in Ocean Springs, MS and Orange Beach,
AL. An amazing week, possibly the best week ever (senior week
last year is near competitior). Despite my relatively care-free
fun life, I have not laughed that hard for that long in a very long
time. Or met so many interesting and amazing people in such a
short time. Too many stories to tell to keep this entry to any
reasonable length, but ask me at any time to tell more and i
will. But here's one of my favorites. (Many, many pictures
to follow here or on facebook.)
The second house we worked on during the week was owned by a 75-year
old black woman named Vonzie. The floor of her house had
collasped, so when you walk in the front door, there was an instant 3
foot drop to a "floor" covered in insulation, wood paneling, plumbing,
etc. We tore all the wood out of of the house except the window
frames and carried piles and piles of debris from her yard. Two
things will forever stand out for me that day, one amazingly funny, one
amazingly touching.
1) One of the guys on trip kept tickling the girls to annoy them (while his girlfriend was there, no less )
and happened to do so while I was right behind and also so that it
caused the girl to bump into Vonzie. Before Vonzie and the girl
could turn around, said guy pointed the blame on me. In response,
as she had seen 'the boys picking on the girls all day', she executed a
'slap and grab' on my unexpecting butt as I passed. The kicker
was that I only found out it happened thirty minutes after the
fact. The incident earned me the nickname, "Hunka, Hunka Burning
Love" (later, for short, "Hunka Bowen") for the rest of week.
2) As we left Vonzie's house to return to camp, we closed our
work for the day with prayer. Vonzie spoke with a prayer that I
wish I could remember word for word. The entire thing was one
praise and thank you for God after another, a thank you for her
health, another thank you for sending us to help, another thank you for
the group that sent us. From a woman who had lost nearly everything, there was not a single request for anything, it was all thank you's. We all walked away speechless, in awe of the power God expressed through Vonzie's thankfulness.
...The entire week was filled with stories just like these two, some
funny, some awe-inspiring, all of them strengthening relationships with
God and others. (ask me sometime about a woman named Jade.)
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| Note: I was going to leave a real long comment on Rachel's profile,
but I'll post instead.
Fourth of July and Thanksgiving are meant to be remembrances of
important events in our country's history, so they're different.
The argument I used against V-Day would work for Mother's Day if not
for the fact that mothers are historically vastly underappreciated and
that, especially for the majority of us that are not mothers, Mother's
Day is a one-way giving, you don't expect gifts. It's sort of a
reverence for both mothers in general and your own, whereas with V-Day
there's pretty much the expectation that if you're giving a Valentine
to someone, you should get from them in return. (I know most of
you will say "No, I don't.", but come on, be reasonable.)
Father's Day, I have less respect for since, it has only officially
been around since 1966. (Idea started with someone who didn't
have a mom growing up, so same idea as for mother's day, giving respect
for those who raised you. Wait, isn't there a commandment about
that, or something?)
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| Great weekend in the Illadelphia. Got to spend a decent amount of
time with the fam, a lot of reminiscing (sp) with boys from York, and a
long theological discussion with a good friend that I got my butt
kicked in. Then, I got back here and hung with an old friend
that I hadn't seen in years who was visiting someone else. Lots
and lots of catching up done this weekend. Sorry PSU folk that
couldn't make it up there, just not in the cards. I hereby promise a well-planned visit to State College before the semester is over. I
should probably also visit a few other folk, too, but they'll
have to wait: Now, until sometime in April, I have to study for
the oral exam that will get me my master's degree and, more
importantly, allow me to stay in the program.
Random question for yall (post answer in your xanga, if you like):
How many pennies should you be allowed to take from the Take-A-Penny,
Leave-A-Penny plate? (if you don't know what that is, way not to shop
at convenience stores).
I'm out...this book sucks.
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