COLOMBIA

In 1 week I'll be heading to Colombia with a team of 9. It's pretty crazy that it's come up so fast. I will be spending the first 10 days in Armenia, working with a youth conference, old pastor friends, street kids and other poor barrios, or communities there. Then I'll be flying to Cartegena to renew old friendships. I"m excited. I'll keep you updated as much as possible.

SUMMER '07

The world has indeed become a lot smaller in the last few decades but when you form important and hopefully life long friendships with people who all live far from you and no where near each other the idea of communication takes on a whole different meaning. Thank God for Skype and Facebook, texting and cheaper long distant plans, but you can only go so long until your heart becomes lonely for them. After all you became friends in the first place because you could talk late into the night, vent your frustration, go out on the town, share clothes etc and far away makes this a little more difficult. So I spent a large majority of this summer saving up and traveling around to see the people who are dear to me. Some people may have questioned how I could have afforded, both time and financially to do this. I have learned and deeply believe that relationships, thought they come hard, are the essence of our existence. So I will always do without in another area if it means that I can spend time, renew and pick up where I left off with people. Here are the stories of the summer. I hope that in reading them you will see how precious these people are to me that as I move to China I will be able to continue to invest in and nurture these relationships.

OTTAWA

Packed up the soccermom van, squished all 6 of us in and drove to the capital with a small detour in Montreal. It was awesome. My good friend Simon and his wife were moving to Ottawa for the year while he does some teacher's college and so we took the opportunity to help them get their new apartment ready. Nothing like washing walls and trying hard not to think about what caked onto them. I also got the time to get to know his wife Jenna who I didn't have much of a chance to know not living here for the last few years. She's by far the nicest person ever. Love her and am soo happy for them even though I'm sad they'll be 5 hours away. Guess next summer will take some more roadtrips. We stayed for Canada's day which was awesome. I don't think I've ever been there for it before and it was by far the coolest fireworks I've ever seen. Sorry Symphony of Fire! The street was full of people dressed in red, break dancers, circus performers and buskers all celebrating our birthday. And of course we made sure we got some beavertails in the Ottawa spirit.

CAMPING

Nothing like a little camping to relax and bond. Our site was a bit ghetto though. That first picture, our first site, is pretty much just sand with a manmade wall between us and the next site. Ha ha, we moved to somewhere they had grass. Seriously though, nothing like being on the side of a highway, hearing big semis go by all night long.
It's funny, we drove to the end of the road the next day to see where they might have been coming from and it was only another camp site. HMMMM!! Nevertheless the beach on Lake Erie was gorgeous. White sand and sun who can ask for more? Oh yeah, don't forget hotdogs, beans and marshmallows. I love camping!

SEATTLE

I may have found a new favorite city. Seriously though, big busy city, mountains, ocean. All the things one needs. My friend Jamie, who was in my first small group, showed me all over the city and we had some serious quality time. Can you say street markets!! You may remember Jamie from such events as cutting my hair and styling it into a Mohawk.

It was so great to reconnect with her and talk again. She's one of the most caring and servant-hearted people I know. She's a person who inspires me. She's preserved through so much and not once has been bitter or cynical but just keeps loving. There should be more people like her in our world. She's currently studying to become a chef so she can take that into micro enterprise development in 3rd world countries. I'm so blessed to have her in my life.