Lots of stuff going on

I am almost overwhelmed with everything that has been happening in my life lately. Especially after a year in which it seemed like nothing happened in my life. I have been blessed to see God doing so many things in my life so quickly. I can see Him working all around me and it is exciting.

He has suddenly surrounded me with a community of people who have greatly blessed me even in the few weeks I have known them. These people have been a constant blessing both by being around for me to enjoy and have a lot of fun with, and by being a constant reminder to seek the Lord in all that I am doing. I think I have done more stuff in the last two months than I have in the year since I moved back to Nor Cal.

Last weekend was a time of spiritual renewal for me. Part of the credit is due to my dear friend, but I am sure that that time was planned in order to get my attention and to heal me of some stupidity in my head and spiritual attack connected with that stupidity. It is a strange experience for me to knowingly enter into destructive thought patterns, to hear the call to stop, know I should stop but not want to, know I should ask for help to want to stop and not want to, and then suddenly have everything in my mind made right again without my doing much of anything other than confessing my situation to a friend. I am thankful that God protects me and sends friends to help me when I don't want to help myself. All of this is a good reminder that I am not an island and that I need people around me to help me.

One of the things I have been learning in the last few months is to be humble and allow people to help me with stuff. Anyone who knows me knows that I really hate allowing people to do things for me and the I hate asking for things even more. So I have been going out of my way to do simple things like letting the neighbor change my battery and letting people carry things for me, and to allow people to help me in more substantial and personal ways as well. It turns out, it is not good for me to do everything for myself and by myself, even when I am able to do so.

On another note, I took a test last week to become a State employee, passed, and it looks like unless something crazy happens, I may have a job with the State very soon. I have mixed emotions about this depending on what kind of job I actually end up with. I have applied for some interesting positions, but I am also getting invitations to apply for some very lame budget monitoring bureaucratic positions that would end up depressing me more than anything. We'll see what happens.

Anyway, enough rambling for now...

Backpacking

Katie and I went backpacking this weekend! We started our hike at Echo Summit, which is about 20 minutes outside South Lake Tahoe. Our original destination was Lake Aloha, which is about two miles long on the map, but is apparently very shallow, because it was mostly dried up when we got there. It was ugly, so we decided to backtrack and stay at Lake Lucille that night because it was the closest nice-looking lake within the zone we had a permit for.

Friday was extremely windy and cold, but we found the perfect campsite in a nice hollow out of the wind. Because it was so windy and because we had gotten chilled as a result of being so sweaty after our hike, we went to bed as soon as it got dark.

On Saturday, we spent the morning doing some exploratory hiking around lake Lucille and ended up climbing up the side of the mountain after following a poorly maintained path down to another lake. Then we packed up and moved our camp to Lake of the Woods a few miles away. This is now my new favorite place. It was so beautiful, I need to go back and get some pictures and just enjoy it more. One day was not enough. (I did bring a camera with me, but the battery died after I took my second picture of the trip.)

Saturday was beautiful and we had a nice time hiking around and sitting and enjoying the beauty of the lake as well as each other's company.

Today we got up and took our time getting breakfast and packing up our stuff. We had a rather quick hike out and a rather long drive home in post-weekend traffic. I am now at home nursing a few blisters and some sore muscles.

I am so glad we went. It was nice to get away from work for more than a day. It was also nice to get out and get some intense exercise. I love being out in the mountains, and I really enjoy going with Katie. She is a great person to go on this kind of trip with.

This is the one good picture I took before my battery ran out:

Tea Time

I am going to a women's tea tomorrow with the women from church. Anyone who has known me for a while also knows that I usually avoid such gatherings, not because I don't enjoy a good tea party, but because women's ministries events usually irritate and depress me. However, I am looking forward to the tea tomorrow so that I can meet some of the other women at church, and becuase the speaker seems really cool and isn't talking about how to be a good wife and mother.

Church women oftem make me uncomfortable because my life is different from most of theirs and I feel like they dismiss me when they find this out. I know these women have a good deal to offer the congregation and the community and I would really like to know them and see what they are doing, so I am going to try. So, tomorrow morning I am going to make a fruit plate to make my mom and grandma proud, put on a dress and go to a tea party where I only know one person. I am curious to see how it goes.

Tag

Rahime tagged me:


Three things that scare me:
1. Bugs
2. Getting married
3. Not being in control

Three people who make me laugh:
1. Helen
2. Chris
3. Julie

Three things I hate:
1. My job
2. Liars
3. Driving in traffic

Three things I don't understand:
1. Why people seem to enjoy being rude
2. Why no one will hire me
3. Why God chooses to be gracious

Three things I am doing right now:
1. Eating soup
2. Watching the vagrants in the alley outside my apartment
3. Sweating

Three things I want to do before I die:
1. Work for the International Justice Mission
2. Hike the Pacific Crest Trail
3. Preach a Sunday sermon at church

Three things I can do:
1. Cook
2. Ride a horse
3. Knit

Three ways to describe my personalilty:
1. Reserved
2. Open
3. Intense

Three things I can't do:
1. A headstand
2. Surf
3. Drive a car with a manual transmission

Three things I think you should listen to:
1. The Bible
2. Good advice
3. Honest people

Three things you should never listen to:
1. Gossip
2. The TV
3. Flattery

Three things I'd like to learn:
1. To be a good dancer
2. To work on my car
3. Jiu-jitsu

Three favorite foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Shawarma
3. Cookies

Three beverages I drink regularly:
1. Coffee
2. Iced tea
3. Wine

Three shows I watched as a kid:
1. Inspector Gadget
2. Full House
3. The Wonder Years

Three people I tag:
1. Crystal
2. Happi
3.Julie

Gross

One of the advantages of having a disgusting giant hairball clogging the bathroom sink:

It catches the emerald earring that falls down without your notice and keeps it from being washed down the drain.