friends

A couple times a year I like to get on here and guilt-trip the people I love who don’t have blogs. You must not want us to know what’s going on in your life, you apparently have some deep dark secrets you’re hiding, you hope to lose contact with us and watch our friendship dwindle; in essence, you must not love us. You know, the typical reasons most people don’t have blogs.

The funny thing is, that really doesn’t seem to work. The people who don’t want blogs just keep not having blogs (Rhodes, Van Allens, Naizers… who said that?), and the people who want to blog just end up starting one. Apparently, belittling and manipulating friends isn’t a good idea.

So that’s why I’m very happy to say that a dear friend, Brooke, has finally started a blog of her own. You should read it. She’s great. I’m looking forward to reading what she has to say.

It really is bizarre, but I feel closer to far away friends who have blogs, simply because I can “talk” with them on a regular basis. If they choose to disclose, I can know what they had for breakfast, what they’re reading, what they’re learning about parenting, and what are their latest soapboxes. Or they can just show me what their kids look like, which is equally just as great. In some ways I wish the blogosphere wasn’t so powerful, but alas, it just seems to be the case these days.

Alright, that’s my You Should Have a Blog post quota for the year. Back to your lives…

We’ve been here in Orlando for a few days, having a great time with old friends, Greg and Clarisa.  It’s hard to believe they hadn’t met Chickpea yet. That just seemed wrong. So we rectified the situation.

I’ve uploaded new photos. And yes, it’s just plain bizarre to have been in several layers of clothes at 10,000 feet earlier in the week, and now - well, we went to the beach today. It was a lot of fun. We feel enormously blessed.

Our next conference starts tomorrow, so yet again, I’m not exactly sure when I’ll post again. I’ll do so as often as possible. Thanks to all of you for reading, and for caring about us. We are honored!

This past weekend was a Weekend of Declutter, but for some reason that defies the laws of physics, things have to become more chaotic before they can revert back to cleaner and more streamlined than before. It’s unfortunate when you have to stop the metamorphosis midstream, thereby keeping the chaos come Monday morning. Sigh… There are boxes all around me.

We tackled the boxes we affectionately named Memorabilia. How have we kept so much “memorabilia,” so named because looking at said object is supposed to help us remember fondly the time that we acquired it? I mean, if it’s in a box, up in Chickpea’s closet, out of site for entire 1.9 years we’ve lived here, why do we have it? But I digress - the point is, we have them, and we need to decide what to do with them.

I hit our Kosova stuff, and it was a TRIPPY walk down memory lane. My mother, God bless her, saved every single e-mail I wrote to her from there, and then passed them on to me, thereby delegating the torch of deciding what to do with them (answer: save the funny and poignant ones, trash the ones talking about flight arrivals and money stuff). I saved note scraps written by Kabob when we were in that painful No-no-we-don’t-like-each-other-we’re-just-friends-and-that’s-all period. Hindsight being 20-20, we laughed at the obviousness of our affections. My journal was eye-opening - I didn’t spare the pen with my emotions and frustrations. It was strange that I barely remembered that which I was so emotional about, which was a good reminder of the whole “this too shall pass” adage that rings true even now.

Probably the most entertaining find were printed e-mails from friends, most specifically, a few girlfriends that would write back and forth as a group. These girls were my lifeblood, my sense of humor, my wind beneath my wings. And the things we wrote to each other were just HILARIOUS. We’re all married now, and we do still keep in touch, even though the four of us are now in Texas, Masssachusetts, Florida, and Asia. But I’m not sure we’d still say today what we said to each other back then. I mean, first of all, we were 5-6 years younger - not a lot, but enough to be in a different life stage. But holy cow! Some of the things I said, and the things said to me, just made me blush when I reread them. I’m glad we were so close to each other, that we could be real and honest and knew how to make each other laugh. In case you’re wondering, the e-mails had a lot to do with guys, the fact that we’re not married, and what it’s going to be like when we’re married. You get the drift.

A highlight - An e-mail from Clarisa, complaining about this postcard she got in the mail from Montana. She was hoping it was from “Bob” (not his real name), but instead, it was from Bob’s friend, Greg, this guy she barely knows. She decided this was a sign that Bob has no interest in her. Greg is now Clarisa’s husband.

Kaitlan is my good friend, who in about two weeks will be returning from Africa after a few months of service to the local believers. I actually first knew her as my camper when I served as College Staff in the youth group - she was this pony-tailed 7th grader that I caught jumping on the bed at camp with Crystal and Morgan. I doubt they even remember that. But she matured in both wisdom and stature, and by the 12th grade, she was already wise beyond her years (she still is). We began meeting at Kerbey Lane Cafe, about twice a month, and went through the book of John. I don’t remember much about that time, other than the fact that Kaitlan was a total SPONGE and absorbed so much of what I said - so much that it was intimidating and humbling. And her teachable spirit taught me how to be a student of those people a few paces ahead in the journey. I always felt like I left with more than I gave.

She went to college in Ohio of all places, and there were several summers when she didn’t return to Austin at all - so there were seasons when I seldom met with her. But anytime she was in Austin (she’s quite the rambler), she’d call me up and we’d do breakfast or coffee. And I always left with more than I gave. This past year after her graduation, she mostly lived in Austin, so we enjoyed meeting regularly again. It was one of the highlights of my week.

We started meeting six years ago through my initiation - I asked her to pray about whether she wanted to meet on a semi-regular basis and share life. It felt weird, I remember, and I didn’t want to come across as “Oh ye little one - what an honor for you to sit at my feet and learn as my pupil.” I just wanted to invest in someone, and the Lord brought her to my mind over and over again. And I wanted to give her the gift of invitation. I always wished someone a few years older asked if they could invest in me, so instead of self-pity, I opted on service.

I am SO glad to know Kaitlan. I really do consider her my true friend, and it is an honor when she asks me to pray for something, to seek the Lord about something in her life, to want wisdom from me. She has the most teachable spirit I know, her passion for the world and the Lord is contagious, and her desire to serve Him wherever He sends is most encouraging. Plus, she’s a ton of fun, thinks I’m funny (what’s better than that?), and is pretty darn funny herself. I often tell her that I feel we’re cut from the same fabric, because we are SO much alike (well, except for the teachable spirit. I’m working on that.). She reacts the same way I would in her life’s circumstances. And I feel like she gets me, too.

My point: Please pray about investing in someone’s life, someone a few years younger than you and who wants to be invested in. The Holy Spirit will guide you, and you’d truly be missing out if you decided it’s too much time. You’re building up the Body, you’re dying to yourself and focusing on someone else, and you’re giving Him honor by blessing what He’s already taught you onto another person. It’s the way the Church should work. And if you hit the jackpot like me, you’ll make a lifelong friend who’s a blast to be with.