a cat under the hood!

Before i start this story, i must mention that the little guy is fine. No harm done. And will be returned to its owner (i think Ashley) when i get off work.

This morning started out completaly normal. I got up, showered, got my lunch together to go to work. The mailman came by (Dan Quade) with a package for Katie and I. Exiting stuff!

I get in my car, drive to work. I take my time, i left a little earlier that usual. On my way to work, i get a call from my oldroommate Bev. She wants to borrow my car to go get lunch. So as im waiting for her, to make the trade...

I start hearing this meowing thats coming from near the car. My first instinct told me it must be a bird flying by. Then as i walk around the car, it got louder. And i figure it out. There must be a cat under the hood of my car.

(you know, you always hear stories like that, most of the times it ends tragically. But katie and i lived at God's Resort, surrounded by cats all winter long, and it hadnt even come close to happening).

so i rush back to my car, pop the hood, and sure enough. There was this little fellow:

we called my boss and asked for special permision for me to keep him with me at work. He was really scared. But really im just glad he survived!

I do believe that for the next few days i will be checking under my hood before i take of driving anywhere.

Shower time!

No, our shower works fine (as long as the neighbors aren't using water). Its baby shower time. On Friday we were all able to celebrate with Eddie and Emilie as they prepare for their baby boy to be born.


Emilie's due date is May 5th. I'm praying that he will come a day early, and be born on my birthday. Emilie is ready for him to come, its hard to be patient these last few days.


Here are a few pictures from the event:

He also celebrated Eddie, all the boys had their little thing. The two groups joined for present opening. And this was Eddie's first.

Emilie is glowing.

The girls did an amazing job planning it. They had all kinds of goodies and snack to munch on. My personal favorite are the chocolate covered pomegranate drops of amazingness.
We also got a good community picture. These are the seven of us that live at God's Resort, with the purpose of ministry and service to the neighborhood. (from L to R: Peter, Eric, Abi, Katie, Emilie, Eddie and Megan)

One more pic, the boys also jumped in on this one. Note Sergio! What an amazing community we have!

Sometimes I feel like our house is just one giant extension of the outside yard. Like the walls aren't really there, but are just mere allusions pretending to keep things out. We cleaned and cleaned on Monday and at the end of it, didn't have a lot to show for our work. Things look better, but they just don't look clean.

A significant hole fell out of my closet ceiling the other day during community dinner. Water had been leaking all winter and still hadn't been fixed this past Thursday when it finally just flooded through. My clothes were soaked, boxes wet, and debris was everywhere. Not the most pleasant experience by the end of it. The bugs are back. I killed four this morning getting ready in my room. I have to say I didn't miss them at all over the winter. The basement is flooded again, nothing too bad, but enough to make it stink pretty bad by and in my room and the porch smells like wet cats right now. It's really nothing new though which is why it is so funny that I am feeling it so heavily today.

We have lived at God's Resort now for 8 months and I would not take any of it back, but the house is wearing on me today. I am sure next week I will be a different person and it will be fine, but today my spirit is worn down by the chaos and disfunctional nature of our living environment.

A New Horizon

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just have an uncanny realization that today is a new day? Usually I feel this happen to me a few times a month , but it hadn't in a while until this morning. Megan and I started going to 5:30 prayer again. Actually we told Eddie he could host it at our home so we would have no choice but to wake up really (hey, we have to go to extremes sometimes to be disciplined right?). Having prayer in our house gives me a lot of peace. I remember how much these prayer meetings changed my life a year ago and coming back to them I just feel Him again.

Anyway, so this morning I woke up and we had prayer and then I had coffee with our new brother in the Lord, Vincent. Vincent is in many ways the male version of me three years ago. The similarities in our coming to the Lord are eerie at times. Talking to him this morning though about the struggles Christians face in their walk though was just outstanding. At the same time though, it made me realize a lot of the grey I have allowed to creep into my Christian walk. Grey that should appear much more black and white in a Christian following Christ. So this morning on this brand new glorious morning where the sun was actually shining for the first time in a while, I want to do something about it. Our adult sponsor on our trip to New Orleans asked me while we were down there what things in my Christianity I would take with me to Mission Year as my foundational truths and life commitments. At the time, I gave him a very typical church response, that though true was not very specific. Well it's time to get specific. For the next few months therefore that is my plan and I would love all the help and accountability I can get along the way. I want to look at where I am still falling short of glorifying God in my actions and discipline and quite honestly make a solid, tangible commitment to action to follow Him more diligently and faithfully. I am a person who needs structure and a clear response and without that my responses get all muddled with life and humanity. Why not take this time now while I have it to really look at and seek Godly disciplines in my life? I am tired of pushing life choices aside and saying "one day when I need to I will". That one day is going to come when I am not looking and I am probably going to respond in some pretty ungodly ways without having really given thought to what my life looks like when lived in line with Christ. So here I am diving in head first ready for whatever I may hit as long as it is on the way to Him.