I know.. I know... it's been a week since I updated. Well... I've been busy packing and stuff and hanging out with people I won't see for awhile. Today we're leaving for Goshen to Stacy's house for our ending retreat. Yup - the internship is soon over, and last night was our last Community Dinner. We went all out and made a Thanksgiving Dinner haha we had a turkey (15 pounds), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green been casserole and stuffing. It fed 32 people. And we all dressed up. It was fun.

But anyway... I'm officially moved out of the house (except for a few things I still need to take to the church) and I'm going home on Friday from Goshen, and then to Warner Camp from the 31st through August 6 and I'll be back in Anderson August 7th - so you might not hear from me for awhile - but you can always call my cell

Thanks to Jen Brooks for enriching my life via The Jesus Videos - Some youth group took the Jesus Videos and dubbed over them and it's great!

I feel like writing, but on nothing specific. Just writing. I don't do it often enough. Yes I write on here almost every day, I occasionally write in my regular journals. But there's always a purpose to the writing. It's raining right now... I love it. I love rain a lot. It's so refreshing. I just don't like it if it's too hot or too cold. The internship is winding down, two weeks left (actually a week and a half plus our ending retreat) and then it's done and over. People are already starting to check out and I don't like it.

Oh - Stacy H and Megs both wrote about feeling old in their journals and I had a few realizations this weekend.

Realization #1: Audrey, Kurt and I walking through parts of Chicago we've never been before. Felt the same way in Jamaica and London.

Realization #2: I went to Venetian and didn't see anyone I knew - because we've all moved on, don't live in town or have better things to do.

Realization #3: Going to Laura's house (the only one we saw in St. Joe) and [part A] her fiance offered us [part B] beer, Kurt accepted.

Realization #4: Sitting on my back patio with Kurt, Audrey, and my mom, eating grilled hamburgers and [part A] watching Kurt and Audrey talk with her like she was a collegue or peer, rather than a friends mom and [part B] we were all drinking wine coolers.

Realization #5: Showing Kurt and Audrey my house, walking into my bedroom and realizing for the first time, that I don't live there anymore. It was always my room even in college, for the summer and for Christmas break. Not anymore... I'm here all summer and I'll be in Italy for most of break.

Realization #6: Lying awake in bed last night and again this morning thinking in ten months I'll have a Bachelor's Degree in Christian Minsitries. Not only that but I have no freakin' clue what I want to do with it. I can live anywhere in the world I want and do anything in the world I want. There are so many places I would love living. I want to live in a city (off the top of my head: Boston, Seattle, Lexington, Nashville, Portland) but some day - maybe in the empty nest stage or when my kids are still young - I want to live somewhere with a lot of land and a horse. There are so many things I have thought of doing (after school program, having a coffee house, working in a church, any sort of urban ministry program) but I see so many downsides to each of them (none of it being money because I really don't care how much I make).

Quick Post because I don't feel like typing a lot. I know I haven't updated in awhile.

Thursday at 8am all the interns went to Chicago to The Prayer Furnace (it was weird... don't feel like explaining it, I didn't like it)

We were supposed to leave and come back to Anderson Saturday morning, but instead Audrey, Kurt and I went to my house and went down to Venetian for a bit, but I didn't find anyone. Got home at 1am.

Over the weekend, saw the 12:01 Friday morning showing of Willy Wonka. AMAZING (And Stacy I promise I'll see it again with you - it's Depp man!)

Watched an interesting movie yesterday... Two married men with the same mistress, one of the wives was in love with her stepson, who flirts with the servant... etc. It was a Swedish movie from the 50's. Yeah. That's all. "Smiles of the Summer Night"

*Edit* I just remembered that I wanted to quote stuff from class this week.

"Where there's a fork in the road, take it."
"The cost is high to really know someone; the cost is higher to let someone really know you. Don't think there's not a price to pay."

both quotes by Todd Davis

I KNOW WHAT NOT MELISSA KAE SAY SE HOMBRE NO QUE LASTIMA

It's true. Great weekend. Jen and Spitty didn't come but it was still amazing and fun w/ Kick-Ass Staceho and Kick-Ass Meli? I sleepy now. My mommy came my grandma came they came today. We went shopping. I have some clothes to wear to the wedding now. I don't know what else to say right now. Freezie pop time?

*Edit* I also took some pictures (regular colored, sepia, and b&w) around town. Mainly at two old buildings and also the basement of the church. I'll probably post some later.

Yo se mas sobre East Campus Housing!!!



It's true. Stacy and I went over to East Campus and snuck in an open window into a bedroom. We were going to walk around and then we heard whistling and climbed back out of the bedroom. Then we drove back around the front and saw a carpenter so we parked and asked him if we could look around and he said yes. So we did. And since we know which apartment is ours we spent a lot of time looking at 205!!! AMAZING!!! The living room is really small.. even smaller than Mansfield. But the apartment in general TOTALLY AMAZING AND WORTH IT! One of the best parts is (other than the stuff we already knew) is that the walls are 1) dry wall and paint, NOT cinder blocks and 2) TAN!!!!! A PRETTY TAN COLOR!!! NOT "I'M-IN-CAMPUS-HOUSING" WHITE!!!! and 3) The ceiling lights! They are NOT circle florecent hospital bug-eating machines! They're pretty! They have a swirly fog design. They PRETTYYYYYY!!!!!!

Yesterday - class with Josh as mentioned below. Came back here for lunch (leftover hot dog and a salad). Hung out with some interns. Almost fell asleep on the bed on the porch while wearing a hoodie (it was about 90 degrees). Then went over to Mel's, bearing gifts of Taco Bell and ingredients. The ingredients eventually became chocolate chip cheesecake, though not until the entirety of the extended version of Fellowship was over. Came home. "Girl time" with Stacy Lantz on the porch. Then bed.

Today - well so far I read my email and made coffee. Next is breakfast - leftover blueberry pancakes! Then God time. The cleaning time (myself and laundry). And ladies and gentlemen it is offically going to be the best weekend of the summer! (minus when I was in NYC 'cause you can't beat NYC). Stacy Hewitt, my beloved roommate whom I haven't seen since the beginning of May is coming! Not only that... Jen Ervin, my beloved roommate whom I haven't seen since the beginning of May is coming! Not only that... (there are rumors that) Sara Spitters, my beloved Spitty whom I haven't seen since the beginning of May is coming!

Today was not the first time I thought about my previous entry. It's just been coming up a lot lately in our internship. We had a guest speaker come named Ford and he planted a church just outside Cincinnati. This church is just a group of people who share the same vision he had and they live together in a few houses and live in community with their neighbors. They hold bible studies in their home, etc and there is no Sunday morning service in a building.

And then today we had another speaker (both of these guys are friends w/ Matt) named Josh and he did something similar except they specifically chose the poorest part of town.

Also - read "No Compromise" for another example.

What if the "church" isn't a building that people go to on Sunday mornings where they sing songs and then someone talks for a 30-minutes or so. What if the "church" is a middle-class American who moves into the poorest part of his city, with his wife and a few other friends, spread out in a couple houses and they invested their lives into their neighbors, befriended them. It's happening.

There's a person in my houe right now and her name is Mallory and she is walking around and now she is putting unlit sparklers in Jolly's face saying, "making you frustrated!!" and now Jolly is talking "darn" says Mallory.



This is the beginning of the book I'm writing - what do you think? Just kidding.

I've been updating a lot lately. Anyway, London won Host City for the 2012 Olympics - yay! When I was there EVERYWHERE you looked was an ad for you to "back the bid" - so as soon as I got home, I got online and backed the bid. Haha London is amazing....... speaking of London-

Ellie you need to update
Sarah we need to put the past behind us... the past couple reunions have been good
Mel you can't leave Anderson
Megs you have to come back to Anderson

**Edit - I just found out about the bombings. That's sad. I'm glad Ellie's not there anymore other wise I would have been worried.**

Anyway -- last night I talked to Stacy H on the phone - yay for my roomie! And last night Stacy L and I had a late night girl talk again - this time inside, on the couch. It was good. Yay for my... housie?

Thoughts lately - I recently watched Bruce Almighty (for the 4th time this summer, each time with different people) and you know how he gets angry because he feels like God is giving all these good things to everyone but him? I'm kinda feeling that lately. I'm not at all angry with God about it, because I know that His timing is perfect, but it's hard watching everyone else. Two main parts - relationships, and visions. (This is what Stacy L and I talked about last night)

Relationships - Stacy has a little crush on someone... Leslie does too (not the same guy)... Meagan has a little somethin' somethin' goin' on with a guy... Jen Brooks visited and while she was here she went on a date... Francis (neighbor) went on a couple dates this weekend... two girl interns have official boyfriends... a guy intern has a "we're talking" girl... two guy interns have official girlfriends... two guys I know are talking about proposing... a third just did...

Basically Stacy and I are just kinda like "My turn!" (we've both never had a relationship)... moving on...

Vision - So many people are getting these great visions of either a job, side job, ministry, etc. But not Stacy and I... no idea what I want to do after graduation. I know I don't need to start anything right away, but if I did, I only have 10 months to figure it out. Meagan makes amazing journals and is going to start selling them. Hunt is going to do an internship at MAC and then be a pastor. Jonah and Sara have this amazing idea of "The Front Porch" (go to Jonah's xanga and read a few entries back... June 30 I think - I LOVE this one!!!). Erin Sprunger has amazing ideas for Africa, and several other people want to go in on it with her. MY TURN GOD!!

Okay, yes, it's time for another update. I have to tell you about my whitetrash moment...

Tonight I sat on the bed on the front porch eating popcorn and watching across the street at Abbot Apts (where Jen Lo Sasso used to live, for those who know her) where there were two cop cars w/ their lights on and the cops went insdie the building, and I was really hoping for an arrest. There was none.

Today's class was good - but I don't feel like summarizing it. Tonight dinner was interesting. Heather, Meagan and I were the only girls and there were about 15 guys... it became too much testosterone so after dinner I snuck away upstairs... where I'm going again in a second, I just felt like updating this when I came down to get my book. Most of the people are gone, I'm the only girl here now and Kevin is on his computer, and there's 5 or 6 guys smoking on the front porch. I MISS MY HOUSEMATES!

Meagan - not sure where she ran off to
Heather - " "
Stacy - work
Melissa - Kentucky
Audrey - Florida
Leslie - Texas

I realized that last night was the first time since my freshman year of High School (the summer before my freshman year) that I did not spend the 4th of July with either Ryan, Heather, Teri, or Ellie.

Anderson fireworks basically suck, especially compared to St. Joe. BUT... I still had a lot of fun. We went to the church and sat on the roof, and it was good because it's just west of downtown, kind of central, so we could see fireworks from about seven different locations. And Jeremiah was drunk... that was interesting. Drunk people on roofs is kind of scary.

Okay so Friday night went a little different than planned (what's new there?) Instead of sardines we ended up spending $40 on Fireworks and setting them off in the church parking lot. Then came home and Stacy and I sat on the bed outside until 1:30 or 2 having girl talk... it was fun, and beautiful night.

Saturday was LONG! We all headed over to the church at 11 for our work day. I helped scrubbed clean all the walls in what is officially our church office and moved the desk in. Then I helped trim the hedges so you can see when you pull out of the parking lot. I don't remember what else I did... a few things here and there, but everything that was accomplished: cleaning out all the upstairs rooms (they had junk in them and LOTS of dust) and vaccumed, shampooed the carpet in the future nursery, washed walls and vaccumed and set up the office, started sanding the floor in the soon to be coffee lounge, swept the gym, I think there were other things too. And then we set up for the cookout we had for the neighborhood from 5-7... quite a few people came, maybe 35, mostly kids but some parents too. They're all very nice and some of the ladies are really funny.

Then Leslie and I visted Kurt at Starbucks and then stalked some people. Then we went back to the church and put away the stuff from the cookout... got home around 9:15, showered, and then Stacy and I watched Uptown Girls in the basement (where our beds are).

Church was good this morning, followed by a great dinner at Roadhouse.