Lessons Learned

I just went back and read through one of my previous posts.... I learned a lot.

A lot about it not being about me....
A lot about how doing ministry well means being a servant...
A lot about how much more wonderful the world is when it's not about me...
A lot about how important family is and how extremely blessed I have been with a great family...

My two weeks on the Res was wonderful. I learned a lot about ministry. Doing more and saying less is how ministry should be done. Preaching through your actions is so much more affective then anything you can ever say. But I suppose there is a time for both.

I'm really looking forward to internship. I'm looking forward to being able to serve again.

Getting my traveling in before Spring Semester starts

7am leave Pineridge after a 2 week stay on the Res
12:30pm drop off Chuck at the Flying J in Sioux Falls and drop off laundry at Eric's apartment
1pm leave Sioux Falls and head back to Saint Paul
5pm arrive in Saint Paul... drop off KS and check mail quick
5:45pm take 15 passagner van back... forget the second set of keys at my apartment
6:15pm repack to smaller bag and make sure everything is okay in my apartment
6:37pm take the keys back to the dealership to drop off... drive to uptown...
7pm eat some supper quick and watch a little tv with the soon to be cousin-in-laws
8pm get back into a car and start driving to Sioux Falls again...a car with 5 of us in it...
12am arrive in Sioux Falls... finally done traveling for the day
12:30am crawl into my select number sleep bed!

Sat and Sunday... spend both days with Eric's family... drive back to St. Paul on Sun evening

Work Mon, Tue, and Wed...
10pm Wed night Drive back down to Sioux Falls
11pm Thur night Drive out to Rapid City for a rodeo

Oh, what I do for the man I love!

Update from Pine Ridge

Just a quick little update... not a lot of time.

My "cross-cultural" experience at Pine Ridge has been really good. I knew that I would enjoy it but I didn't think I would get this much out of it. I will write more about what I have experienced later.... when there is more time.. and I have debriefed a little more.

We are currently waiting for the elementary school aged kids to show up for the after school hangout time. My favorite of day! It is so much fun to just be a kid for a while again. They are only here for an hour and it always seems to go too fast.

Well... that's all for now. 3 more days left and then we head back to Minn. on Friday morning.

Peace Out

So much to do ... so little time....

There is so much to get done today.

I get off work today around 12:30ish... then the rush begins. Mainly because I was lazy last night when I got done with wedding stuff and couldn't move. And who wants to do laundry when it's dark and cold outside?!?!? not I!

So today when I get off work I need to run over to Walmart and pick-up a prescription which I called in yesterday. I hope they have it done once I get over there. I guess they go on break from 2-3:30... what weird lunch hour time.. why can't they hire anyone to cover lunch... or have two people working? But then again it's Walmart :)

It might be a little tight because I have a youth thing at 4pm. I know, I know, I quite already... like back in November... but the youth don't know that yet and I have to tell them. So there will be pizza involved (pizza's always a sure bet) and some type of game, yet to be determined. I really don't have time to do much tonight but this was the best time I could find to break it to them. PB worries about them taking it hard, but I don't feel like I have done a good enough job for them to really miss me. Not that I think I suck at youth ministry, but I just haven't had the time to do what I think they deserve and don't spend enough time with them to form great bonds. Another reason why I think I need to step down. I think they need someone with more time.

Tomorrow I leave for Pine Ridge at 6:30am. Ugh. I don't even want to deal with it. I just need one more day to sleep in. One more day to relax... One more day to get things done... like laundry. Something about having underwear to wear and that being important, I don't know.

I also need to pack... packing for a weekend is easy, but 2 weeks is a little bit more difficult. It's just nice that I don't have to worry about looking good or about what I wear. I just get to learn, work, learn some more, and hang out... kind of like camp. Camp is the one place that I love not only for it being camp but because of what camp makes me... less selfish. I'm so busy helping others that I even forget if I have showered that day. I like that life. I like it when I worry less about me...

So maybe that's the lesson here... this too shall pass. I will worry about my stuff for 24hrs and then it will be about others for 2 weeks. Maybe I will find that more relaxing then the one more day of being here.

Oh yeah... final thought.... I miss Eric. Bunches. 2 1/2 more weeks. They should go fast. Then I get to see him and a bunch of friends and hang out at the Rodeo in Rapid. Life doesn't get much better then that! And it's only 7 months and 5 days till I don't have to leave him all the time.. that seems doable and will hopefully go fast!

COFFEE

Oh how I love it. I love to put it in my handy dandy, keep it warm for at least 3 hours, coffee holder deal. I think that the handy dandy coffee holder deal was meant for me. I found it all lonely after a wedding one weekend. It's owner was neglectful and left if behind.... I think it was fate! I can put my coffee in it.. (which, let's be honest, is a good thing) ...put on the lid...turn it upside down and nothing happens. No leaking at all. I know ... WOW!

My soon to be mother-in-law gave me a bunch of different good coffee bean flavors for Christmas. It makes waking up kind of fun because my coffee maker, which I also love, is set on a timer and has the new coffee all brewed up for me when my alarm goes off. For not being a morning person, this sure helps!

I would also like to point out because of this coffee and that my blood is now about 50% coffee... I remembered to turn the phone off of night! I ROCK!!!!

Who needs sleep.... I do!

So tonight I can't sleep... normally this wouldn't be a problem... but tonight it is. I have to be to work at 7:30am..... And pretend like I care :) AKA... point out the big restroom sign to my right.

I think I can't sleep because I have too many thoughts floating around in my head... mainly thoughts of wedding stuff. I think it's because I drempt about the wedding last night. It was a wonderful nights sleep but I can't do that every night. Gets me thinking and too excited for the future. It's still 7 months away and a lot to do.. can't get too excited about it or I will never sleep!

I have such a problem falling a sleep once my mind starts going. I have a hard time shutting off the thoughts, good and bad. I haven't had this problem in a long time.. the not being able to sleep problem. I think I am just nervous about the future and doing things right... I think I'm nervous that I might forget to do something big in the next few days and really screw something up. I feel like there is so much to do and at the same time not that much.. it's all just important stuff.

Tonight I have spent time wondering why it is that we seem to take our closest friends for granted. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in an episode of Desperate House Wives.... the fakiness that we treat each other with and then do as we will, only to get what we want. That it's okay to tell a lie to another person to make ourselves sound better. People just asume that you are going to be their good friend forever and that some how means they don't have to keep in touch or treat you with respect... that you no longer have to work on the relationship and it's going to grow and fix itself.

So many thoughts going through my head that it's hard to shut them all off... 1am and I have a feeling it's going to be a sleepless night.

This is my life

I couldn't get a hold of Eric last night when I got off work so I just figured he fell a sleep on the couch or something. Sure enough... at 7am this morning I get a call from the boy. He was going to take a "quick nap" at 6:30 last night and didn't wake up till 4 this morning. He then got a cleaning bug up his butt and proceeded to clean all morning.... crazy guy! So we talked for about a half hour as he cleaned a little more and got ready for work. I have decided that I like waking up to his voice WAY better then I like my dumb phone alarm!

So then I got to go back to sleep, today is my sleep in day after all. The second thing that I woke up to was not as happy as Eric, that is for sure. And no it wasn't my alarm, it was someone walking above me... but wait, that can't be it... I'm on the top floor, no one lives above me! No no... the maintenance guy decided at 10am that he was going to go chop stuff off the roof RIGHT ABOVE MY ROOM! It was so loud.. grrrr! I hate waking up in a bad way....

The beginning of 2007

It has been a really good break overall. It was good to spend time with family and with friends. Oh how I wish that everyone was in the same town.

My niece has grown so much in the last 3 months. She is running around, getting into everything she's not supose to, and just being too cute for her own good. It's so much fun to watch her grow and experience new things. It's also a lot of fun right now to play and then send her home. She is a handful, too much like her Aunt sometimes!

I am not looking forward to leaving Eric again. I finally get use to being around someone, sharing, communicating, and then it's time to go home. It will be nice when we don't have to leave each other all the time. A little over 7 months till we get married... I'm starting to feel the crunch of getting things done for the wedding. It was so nice to say I had 9 months to worry about it. Pretty soon I won't be able to let things go for a couple of months... it's crazy how this past month has flown by!