an idiosyncrasy

I think bruises are cool. I got this one playing indoor soccer. I'd fouled an over zealous fella earlier in the game (which my team and a ref applauded) and this was a result of his retaliation. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that it was unintentional (thus proving his out of control-ness) because of the good sportsman hand he offered to help me up. :) I love the game!

please help me swallow

I followed up with my India friends and invited myself over for a visit after Thanksgiving. It was so great! I arrived shortly after 11 am and stayed for 5 hours. I found my way to their mansion, was greeted with a kiss by my grandmotherly-type friend and the visiting began. Lunch was authentic Indian cuisine and it was YUMMY! I had expressed my concern for being able to handle spicy food and as such the lunch was noticeable lacking in the hot factor (to which I'm grateful). It was a good way to experience Indian food, may have been my first time. I managed to swallow everything on my plate.. until I was really full. The husband noticed my discomfort and let me know it was okay not to clean my plate. Then began Round II of visiting on the couches and the unfortunate feeling of post lunch in-desperate-need-of-a-nap set in. [I'm so thankful for a job that is flexible that when a nap is necessary and my bed is close by, I can succumb!] An afternoon snack was brought out, consisting of fried peas and other veggies and looking very not American. Still full but trying to be polite and culturally sensitive, I popped the first handful, chewed, swallowed.. and then I felt my eyes tear up and tried to determine if in fact my throat really was burning? At least I was now awake! Choking commenced and there was a scurry to get the girl some water. Upon regaining proper use of my esophagus I braved another handful praying, PLEASE Lord, help me swallow. He obliged, no doubt with a smile on his face. The rest of my serving went down smoothly and I let them give me a jar to take home with me. (A couple days later I totally re-gifted and gave the snack to a friend who loves world travelling.) The missionary saying is a good and humorus one, "Lord, I will follow. But please help me swallow!"

jaunt to asheville turns post turkey

Lest ye think that North Carolina is just one big beach, I beseech thee. It has some gorgeous mountainous scenery and early November happened to be a great time to see the splendor of fall foliage. I'll post some pictures later but I'd like to get at least a little sleep so I'm not going to even attempt to upload photos on dial-up. Guess this would be a rare moment that I am actually thankful for the ancient yet more advanced access camp has that is one grade above dial-up. Speaking of thankfulness.. that is something that I am not nearly enough. And its not feeling like such a good idea to be blogging when I feel low. But it'll be an expression of emotion for sure. And we know how Kendra feels about sharing her emotions. Actually, its not the sharing of emotions that I totally dread (though close) its the fear of rejection of those close to me and having my faults come full circle, out in the open. This is what I get for not reporting on vacation right away -- instead this entry has quickly diverged from summarizing my trip to Asheville to the post-Turkey Day blues . (If you want more on vaca, email me or call and also check out photos on facebook. It really was a super trip and I especially enjoyed 'highlights of the day' time with Miss BecKAY.)

With Daughty (PA Dutch word for Grandpa) passing away last week and family issues surfacing and being miles from home, I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving. And it was great. Mom's side of the family came over, grandma outdid herself once again in cooking a fantastic meal, and we had so much fun playing games and enjoying each other's 'kump-nay'! Thanks God for a beautiful day, a full belly, that my family knows You and for laughter. Even though its not easy or fun, thanks too for using difficult and stupid conflict to show me areas of my character that you want a piece of. Ok, that you want all of, to make me what I ought to be. I'm sorry I'm just not there yet. What is "there"? I guess perfection and righteousness. I just don't know if I'll ever get it right. Had I been praying for a deeper understanding of grace? 'cause I sure need it. I always try to earn it and I always fall short. Sigh.

yeah... moving on. Referring back to my entry about being such an awkward dancer. While that remains true, it may not be as bad as I painted it. k-t invited us to go contra dancing one night and boy, what a fun cultural experience. We walked in to a full house of mountain mamas with flowing frizzy hair and skirts along side rugged men of all shapes, sizes and sights! All my years of square dancing paid off but didn't prepare me for the dizzy factor and 50 year old partners with the goofiest of grins. Wonderful! :)

This entry is so scattered, just like my thoughts. I'm out.

hanging in, hanging on

What were you doing Saturday morning, November 3rd? One of my friends was getting engaged, taking a new step into adulthood. Meanwhile, I happened to relate to the stage of the pre-teen babysitter discussing with a 2 year old the grossness of picking one's nose, blessings of poopie diapers and general silliness that is playing with little boys. (For the record, I voted fingers up the nose as gross, while he remained calmly firm in his stance that its ok and he just puts them in his mouth. barf) Mad props out there to parents with tots, I salute you!! Seriously cute but unbelievably tiring. A highlight (besides the 2 year old reminding me I hadn't put a diaper on him for his quiet time - only to poop in it 4 minutes later) was the time I was reading a Richard Scarry book and I feel this little arm on the back of my neck and hear this endearing voice say, "I like you." Heart--> melting.

That evening we successfully gave Kirby his first surprise party ever. It helped that he's already been in his new home for a year before giving him a house warming party. Heehee. The center of attention though went to the baby-- Jake, a puppy lab mix of some sort. What is it about babies that make them so durn cute? Post party the 5 of us just enjoyed catching up. Family time seems to get sweeter with age. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. :)


Know what else I can't wait for? Wednesday! Wednesday = vacation. I seem to have forgotten what taking a Sabbath means. Maybe I never really knew. While I truly appreciate my current commute to work (except those days the deer really crowd the foot traffic) the downside of living where I work is I never truly leave work when I go home. Granted, it doesn't usually feel like "work" but I certainly get tuckered out and definitely need to take breaks. I've found that if I want to really relax I need to lay low by hiding in my room with the blinds shut or physically leave the premises. How does one go about getting accountability on getting rest? At any rate, I am stoked to head down to Asheville, NC for about a week. BeckAY is meeting me there from Charlie-ton, SC and we'll hopefully meet up with my pal KT who lives there. Anyone know of a place we can stay? Or sweet hikes we don't want to miss? Or have free passes for the Biltmore? Not sure what exactly we're going to do, but that's really not the point. Point is, we're going! In the words of Ebbs, 'Woo doggie.'

In case I wasn't sure, I found out today I still have room to grow. :/ What are those moments called... character builders, opportunities, JOY? Sure. Things don't go quite as I'd planned, I react and then I reflect on my actions. No need to go into details at this point. However, the song "He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be" comes to mind. Just makes me thankful for cool air to take a walk in, a GOD who's always there and smiling down on us and people to pick me back up again. Life is good, even if it seems to get messed up a lot. Signing off, time to sleep.

Just shake your head and smile

Found myself in an uncomfortable situation Friday night. I was hosting our weekend guest groups and chatting with a few of them when there arose a debate between an ex-nun turned pentecostal intercessor and a claimed 'non-denominational' but actually conservative type of Plymouth Brethren pastor from India on the importance of miraculous signs in a believers life. I'm not a huge fan of debates, or "dialogue" as EMU so endearingly referred to them, so this was one of those moments I just wanted to sink into the trap cushion of the couch and disappear. Since that was not an option, I tried to add to the discussion in such a way as to emphasize the points they did agree on. The conversation came to a somewhat peaceful end with them agreeing that the main thing is to love one another and non-believers and I exited the scene as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the rest of the weekend was devoid of such conversations.

One of the groups was families of Indian decent. I had never really interacted with people of India before and I must say I really enjoyed connecting with them. I've heard a saying that whatever you've heard about China is true somewhere in China because it is so huge and diverse. I bet the same is true about India, though I can't say I've heard much. For what seems like a long time I've felt a call to Asia. I have a natural draw to China because of visiting it but in comparison to the friendliness of Indians, Chinese are somewhat awkward. Think I'll stop there with the stereotyping...

A calling to Asia is so vague and obviously I don't know what the future holds. All I know is WHO holds the future. So maybe this weekend was the tip of the iceburg of where my future may go. At the very least, I'm thankful for the opportunity to interact with another culture and see the beauty of the family of God.

Dancing is not something I can do when another human being is around. My brain spins in wild circles telling me to MOVE! but my eyes glaze over and avert everything but the ground, my hips suddenly gunk up with rust, my feet fill with lead and if a boy touches my hands, my face burns red. Its actually quite sad. I watch movies like Take the Lead & Dirty Dancing making mental notes I'll only use in my dreams. However, if no one else is around, I can bust a move or two, watch out. Jack Johnson croned as I danced all over the kitchen the other night preparing dinner. It was simply wonderful.

Random fart story... it was around 11:30 pm and I was on my way to turn off lights in a building before heading to bed. There was an older man a little ways ahead of me on the path. I guess he didn't hear me coming up behind him because out of nowhere there was this juicy, quite audible squeak. It wasn't me which left just one other soul -- busted! Immediately after the gastric expulsion his head spins around to check the scene. Of course I was looking right at him but tried the ole look-to-the-left-and-act-like-nothing-happened, gaze up at the night sky and DON'T LAUGH. For a few seconds I just starred at the back of his head and enjoyed the moment with a huge grin on my face. I caught up to and passed him and casually said, "Time for bed, huh?"

Some wedding shots

A few shots of my brother Greggy and his bride Stephanie's wedding.


http://radiantimages.blogspot.com/2007/10/greg-steph-october-13th.html

welcome to me!

Online blogging seems silly, especially for one who is not particular to opening up and being vulnerable. There are plenty of times I want to share more about myself with someone - not unlike the simple game of catch- but wait to be asked... only to be disappointed that they didn't appear to care enough to delve a little deeper. Time Out: this little save now blue bar that moves as I'm typing is quasi annoying. Its like I'm being watched. Okay, enough with the paranoia.

The reason I scampered into this world of online-ness is to allow others into my life as they please. I put it out there, they can tune in to the life of K-dog as they remember or want to. This is my response of sorts to friends who share their life with me via mass email updates and their own online journaling. I realized that as I read their junk I felt more connected and appreciative of them but there was no corresponding way for them, should they choose, to feel connected to me. Secretly (tho not so secret now!) I hope this saves my wrists from the carpal tunnel woes of tapping away for hours in front of the compy to the pile of unanswered emails I am getting worse at replying to.

If you read up on my life and feel connected to me in a new way, let me know. I'm assuming that if you are reading this its 'cause you know me. Or want to. This picture shows me in a public speaking setting... I can do it but I just don't feel comfortable doing so. Currently, that parallels this adventure into cyberspace.