Give me one pure and holy passion...

Life in the apartments so far:

Grood! I mean good. And great. Great and good. Stacy and DeeDee and I are having crazy fun, except DeeDee right now is frustrated that her computer is taking so long to get ready to be on the network, and she has a horrible headache, and Stacy just went to take a nap. But otherwise, things are good. We're still in the process of unpacking and organizing and washing dishes that haven't been used in a few years, all that good stuff. And I'd like to get another couch or something. I'm really excited for this year b/c I'm finally living with friends and not someone I don't know. And it's an apartment... a bedroom, a study, a bathroom, a living room and a kitchen... so nice. I'm also really excited because I have a lot of people that I'm really looking forward to seeing that I haven't talked to all summer. But the weird thing is that everyone's spread out this year. I have friends in South, Dunn, Rice, Martin, and all over off campus. So Swa and Beth and Stacy and I mentioned having a progressive dinner thingy where each course is at someone else's house/apartment. So that'll be fun if it happens. If you're a raven come visit or call! Mansfield A12 x3762

Krista is gone. Holly is gone. Chris is gone. Five more days until I'm gone. I'm thinking back on the summer and this is how I summarize it:

mint chip ice cream, sunset, rock solid, hanson, mario, garage sale

yeah that about does it

oh... that reminds me.. holly what should I do about your controller for nintendo and Tom/Keith's Mario 3? (It's all John's so it's not going to school with me)

Today was a different sort of concert. Chris Spitters, my middle school youth pastor (and my friend Sara's dad) had a release concert for his new CD. YAY! It totally rocked, but in a much different way than Hanson. It's so neat being at a concert that big for someone who's just a guy I grew up looking to as a role model. I was just thinking earlier tonight about how I need to let people know what I really think about them, especially people I really care about. Chris... man, I've known him since I was in 6th grade (that's almost 10 years) and he really has impacted my life. So many of my milestones in my walk with God have involved him. Also, I don't have a great relationship with my dad. I can be thankful that I don't completely hate him like some people do their dads, but he's definately not the kind of man that I can look to as the type of person I want to have as a husband, or as a father for my kids. Actually, I was just talking to Krista about this the other day. Psalm 2 says something like "And the Lord said to me, 'You are my son. Today I have become your Father.'" and it really reminded me of how I don't necessarily need a father-figure on earth to look to, because I have a Perfect Father in heaven who loves me unconditionally. But then tonight I was thinking about how Chris is a person I can look to and say "I want those qualities in a husband. I want those qualities in a Father for my kids" (though Sara might have some advice against that, haha just kidding). And then I was talking to an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time about how what I want to do when I get out of school is pretty much to be Jenny Fry. (If you don't know who she is, ask, I don't feel like explaining here). Jo (The friend I was talking to) told me that I should tell her that. And she's right. Jenny and Chris are two people that I really look to in my life and they don't even know it (I don't think). But it's so hard... how do you even bring that up? "Hi Jenny. When I grow up, I want to be you" doesn't really sound all that eloquent haha. Not that it needs to be eloquent, but still.... so hard.

On another note, back to Hanson. So if I haven't mentioned it already, I work at the church that their Aunt Linda and Uncle Glenn go to. I have never seen either of them in my life, so I really don't know what they look like (other than a maker-drawn, cartoon version of Glenn that Adam made). So this morning Krista and I went to church at RPCC (the church) and we pulled into the parking lot, and there was this couple getting out of their car, and I said "Hey look! It's Glenn and Linda! HA! Just kidding. That'd be funny though if it was them." And then we went to church. After church they had a social greeting thing and we were talking to people and introducing ourselves. Then the woman who was getting out of the car earlier said "Hi, I'm Linda *******" (I'll leave out the last name for her privacy's sake. No, it's not Linda Hanson). And I almost started cracking up just b/c it really was her when I had said that earlier. I didn't say anything about knowing who her nephews are because I didn't want her to think I was a stalker or anything (b/c I'm not). But yeah. That's pretty much all she said... I think she said something else about me being the secretary or whatever. Glenn never introduced himself, but Krista and I were walking back out to my car at the same time they were, and he just turns around and says, "That's a nice color. There aren't any scratches yet?" And I was like "Yeah there are a lot of scratches" (realizing he was referring to my car), and then we talked about their convertable and he said they have fun in it. The whole time I was thinking I should ask him to say woot, but that'd be weird. Again, we never brought up Hanson or anything, but while he was still just sitting in his convertable, Krista and I did get into my car and we "roll(ed) the windows down, turn(ed) the radio up" (didn't push the pedal to the ground yet though) and blasted Penny and Me, but I don't think it even registered with him who it was. If so, he did a good job hiding it. But that's my Hanson story for today. Their Uncle Glenn likes the color of my car. How great for me. HA!

(Sorry for the long post)

Oh, and Tricia, sorry for the mis-spelling.

Currently Watching
Hanson - Underneath Acoustic Live


Okay so Wednesday didn't do anything other than totally kick butt! HA! Yeah, so around I don't remember what time, Kate, Trisha, Krista, Ali, Adam and I all made our way up to Kalamazoo for the best concert I have EVER been to, and I mean EVER. Hanson is sooooo much better live than any CD of theirs. They're just so full of energy and the intensity of the passion they have for what they do is fangorious. The only dissapointing thing is that they didn't really talk to the crowd like they usually do. Pretty much the only thing I remember them saying was when Taylor was up on stage by himself playing "Believe" on the piano, he stops in the middle, puts his finger to his lips and says, "Shhhhhh." And then later when Issac and Zac came back out he said, "For the sake of others, shhhhhhhh." Usually at concerts he's telling people to be crazier, so I don't know what was up with that. And maybe our sign scared them out of talking haha. Adam knows their Uncle (who lives in our town) and so our sign said "Uncle Glenn says woot! So does Linda." HAha so maybe they thought stalkers were in the crowd. And then the other side of the sign which we only put up once was the Underneath symbol, which, for those who don't know is a circle and inside the circle is an arrow pointing down. And then for the Teen Girl Squad fans out there on one side of the arrow we wrote "ARROW'D!!!" and then on the other side wrote, "OW! My Underneath!"

Currently Playing
Underneath [Limited Edition w/Bonus DVD]
By Hanson
- Believe

Warner Camp. What a wonderful place. Everytime I have been there it seems is a unique chapter in my life. I just finished a week of counseling 5th and 6th graders, and man, what a blessing they are. A lot of people don't like middle school kids, but I think I'm one of the few who really has a passion for them. One night during evening worship in the "nabertacle" I was just sitting there singing my heart out and listening to the voices around me. The sound of a hundred or so middle school children singing out to God was so amazing. It made me think of how often the Bible mentions children. Hearing their voices sing like that made me feel like I too was a child, and it brought such joy to my heart to praise God in that way. I felt like giggling in the middle of worship, just because. Actually, I think at one point I did. And I'm sure God giggled back at me.