Did You Ever Just Watch?

Yesterday started out in a totally unexpected way... I was leaving Erin's apartment at CU as I had stayed the night b/c I was way too tired to drive home that night after watching Die Hard... So as I was leaving, this guy who was re-paving the sidewalk at CU said to me, "Rachael?" I said, "No." Then he said, "Glenn ____" (for sake of privacy, I'm leaving that blank). I said, "Yeah, that's my dad. How do you know him?" He replied, "He was my mentor when I worked with him at ______." I was floored. He said, "You used to have short hair, right?" "Yeah, I did." That was like 5 years ago! He recognized me after having not seen me for at least 5 years! He proceeded to tell me that he started a ministry in India where he opened an orphanage and community center, started a church and also an outreach ministry to rescue girls from prostitution. He told me that he works for three months for this construction company to earn money, then goes back to India (where he was adopted from) to work on his ministry for three months. He flips back and forth. Orphan care and adoption has been a passion of mine for a long time, so to hear what this man is doing, totally blew me away. Very cool. Why did God have our paths cross again? I don't know for sure as I'm still sorting thru it mentally, but one thing that it did teach me is how God works. He continues to amaze me. What a way to start a morning.

But that experience soon faded as I allowed the worries of this life to consume me. I always wonder what the future holds... Should I go back to school for my masters to be an NNP (neonatal nurse practitioner)...? but that entails giving up much of my current life to do so b/c nursing school entails having no life but studying and working. Yeah, no fun... And I'm just starting lasting friendships that I don't want to lose. I am also really starting to live, I mean REALLY LIVE my life. This has been the best summer I have had in a long time. I am thoroughly enjoying it to the fullest. I'm spending as much of my time with my friends as possible and loving it! So... if not school right now, then what does God have in store for me for the future? Is Mr. Right right around the corner? There are times I just wish he would just sweep me off my feet and take me off into the sunset... But God is teaching me a lot about patience and waiting on His timing (not mine) in this area of my life. But then I feel the pressure from friends... pushing me to go out on blind dates or to go out with any single guy that may walk into my life. I hate that. Why is there so much pressure for a young single woman to get married off right away to any potential suitor? I know my heart and am trying listen to God... So please stop pushing me and therefore confusing me when it comes to following GOD's lead. Why am I not allowed to interact with single guys my age w/o the expectations... W/o being asked later, "Is he single?" Who cares! Yeah, I really do care and wonder when I talk w/ them, but that's normal for any 20-someting chic. But, I won't flirt with every guy that walks into my life. It's just not me. I have too much respect for guys to do that. I have too much respect for myself as well as for God to do that. Sorry, I'm just a little frustrated here... Yeah, I'm slow, picky and will not say yes to anyone. I won't just give any guy the key to my heart... It's too precious, too sacred. I want to save myself wholly for my future husband. I'm choosing to wait. To wait on God's timing... not my own, not my friends'.

My day doesn't end there though...

So after all that turmoil running thru my mind, I decided to go rollerblading last night to relieve some stress and to clear my head. Thought I was only going to go half the distance as I was fairly tired, but then went a little farther and then went the whole eight miles. On my way back home, the sunset was amazing. Did you ever just watch the sunset? I mean really watch the sun set... I was on a main street skating and I just stopped right where I was and watched the sun set. It was so cool. I was leaning against a telephone pole b/t the sidewalk and street. Cars were going by, people jogging by, people biking by. ...I'm sure wondering what I was doing. But I didn't care b/c it was just me and God. He calmed my spirit. He filled me with His peace. His presence. God brought me out that far into the country to fill me with His spirit of peace. After the sun set, God smiled. How do I know? B/c at that exact moment, a smile filled my face. God was pleased as His beauty filled the earth as well as my soul ...for He had filled me with His peace.

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Murder in the Church part 2

Here's videos from that night...

Randi Jo and Autumn creating fun phrases on the frig and dancing to music...


Faith and Autumn singin' a Grease song...


Funny convo...

Murder in the Church

That game rocks! It is so much fun especially when you play it with teens as they tend to freak out rather easily when they are scared :D Murder in the Church is a game where one person is the murderer and you have no idea who it is until he/she sneaks up behind you... "you're DEAD". Then you run to home base after you scream like a girl. Good times. JB managed to scare Beth so bad that we could hardly get her to play again and was still holding a grudge the next morning... Yeah, good times indeed! Last night, I learned how much fun it is to scare teens. Way TOO FUN indeed. I'm so bad, I know ;)

After scaring the pants off everyone, we headed over to Steak'n'Shake for more food ...as if we hadn't eaten enough back at the dorms... but you know, what's an all-nighter w/o tons of food?! After we finished entertaining everyone at Steak'n'Shake as we drew just a li'l attention to ourselves - not intentionally mind you ;) Someone stated that they may have put hot sauce in JB's coffee and one of head people at Steak'n'Shake came up to JB and said, "What the ... are you thinkin' that we put hot sauce in your coffee?" JB was so caught off guard that he hardly knew what to say. We were just kidding after all! So once she calmed down and starting kidding around w/ us, things were cool. Then our waitress happened to tell her that we were a Christian group, and she came back and apologized to us very loudly... "I didn't know you were a Christian group! I'm sorry..." Yeah, all eyes headed our way as we gracefully accepted her apology. All is good as we're used to eyes heading our way b/c in Jamaica we were usually the center of attention anywhere we went as we kind of stood out as being just a li'l different :)

Then after some of us paid our bill and waited for everyone else to finish paying, we stood in the entry way chatting and JB said we should sing someting... so after we worked up the courage to and remembered it was July 25 (as in Christmas in July) we broke into the chorus of, I kid you not, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to the very next couple that walked thru the door. Hey, why not? We were already the center of attention, so we may as well go out with style!

Back at the dorms, it was just us girls. Some of us chatted it up a bit as others crashed in front of a movie or in their own room... A few of us had every intention to stay up till 3a to stake out the Pickitt Lady in front of Pickitt Hall at CU. Yes, six of us girls headed out in pajama style to watch for the ghost of the Pickitt Lady. Of course Pickitt Hall was engrossed in lights, so we figured it was too light out to see her, but who knows... We waited anyway. Then we thought, maybe she's chillin' out in the back near the pond... We headed that way but all we managed to do was wake and chase 25 geese into the pond. No Pickitt Lady anywhere to be seen... bummer. Good memories. We tried. Maybe next time...

16 hours

You never really know how long 16 hours is until you work it... This past Saturday and Sunday, I was on delivery/admission. Basically, that means that I go down with the rest of the neonatal team to each delivery where there is potential for the baby to need medical help after birth. I went down for four births all weekend and left each one with his/her mother. That was pretty cool b/c there were a couple we initially thought would be coming back with us but each time we left 'em down with mom - including the one after a crash C-section. I prayed silently before each delivery and each time we thought this kiddo might be coming back with us, he/she came out crying and we could leave 'em with mom. Good times. God is good.

All in all it was a good weekend :) Even the 16 hour shift... I put my order in for a good assignment so I could use a little less brain power while I cared for each baby - they were all good eaters and a good assignment for hours 13-16.


More from Jamaica... This was my first time ever stepping foot in an orphanage...

Panorama Sunset over Montego Bay

Here is just one of the many gorgeous sunsets we saw while in Montego Bay, Jamaica while on our mission trip there...

Random Day, Random Post...

Alright, if a friend of mine can complain about his decaf coffee he got in CA on his blog, then I can talk about this... I was just sitting here eating my newly purchased Tommy and Brook's Fudgie Monkey ice cream from Culver's and the best part is the banana fudge in it. I always go diggin' for 'em in the quart (yes, I eat right from the quart - hey, I'm single, I can do whatever I want ;) ) Since this was a brand new container, normally there are fudgie monkey chunks near the top... Well, not one chunk was near the top on this one. So I had to go diggin' right from the start and found TWO in the whole container. I dissected the whole container and found TWO! That is SO sad. Man, I want a refund! Can you return ice cream after you dissected it??

Then earlier this evening, I went rollerblading and got to the half way point (4.5 miles) and found the front wheels on both skates had chunks worn out on them. I had to go another 4.5 miles to get home! Not a good time to discover that...

But on the upside! My gorgeous oak hardwood floors are being refinished and they look fabulous. I'm excited for the finished product. I am having them do my bedroom and my computer room. I had started doing my bedroom myself but gave up when it came to doing up by the walls as I didn't have the right tools to sand it w/o creating a groove... So in came the professionals and am I glad they are here b/c those floors are stunning... But then again, anything would look better than the dirty pink carpet that was there ;) Next up, I need to hire someone to do my trim work and replace my the doors to the rooms and closets. Then my room will be completely done except for framing and hanging up some of my pics from Jamaica. I can't wait to do that!

If You Just Breathe...

If you just breathe, life happens. I found myself saying that yesterday at work while I was coaching my twins on the concepts of life... yeah, breathing. Wait, did you say "my kids"? you may ask... yeah, my kids. I have twins and they like to hold their breath. Okay, really now, when did you have twins? No, I'm caring for a set of twins at work and they tend to hold their breath till they desat (drop their O2 level in the blood ~ medically, we call that periodic breathing or apnea). I think they do it just to keep me going and that they do, to the point of me saying, "IF YOU JUST BREATHE, LIFE HAPPENS!"

How true is that statement though... The more I think about it, the more I realize how true that quote is and how it relates back to my mission trip to Jamaica. The people there are so laid back as they allow life to happen. They go with the flow. "No problem, mon! Only situation." "No worries, mon!" Two quotes you will commonly hear in Jamaica as they just breathe and let life happen. Here in America, we get so wound up over the littlest tings in life or get so busy as we are constantly on the go-go-go-go-go that we forget to just breathe and let life happen. IF we simply relax and go with the flow, we will quickly learn to enjoy the littlest tings in life, including the simplest task of breathing... Someting we tend to take for granted until we realize how difficult it can be for the littlest ones in our lives, such as my twins, who struggle daily to learn how to breathe so life can happen...

So IF YOU JUST BREATHE, LIFE HAPPENS!

We Love Some TING!!

Ting is a Jamaican soda. Basically it's Jamaican grapefruit juice that has been carbonated. It is SO good. Sadly so... I have only one bottle of Ting left. But we will be having some at our Jamaica team reunion party! ya mon... we love some ting indeed! :D