on the way to practice

Just had to share this... on my drive to soccer practice this morning shortly before 8 am, I saw this guy standing in his driveway beside a monstrosity of a gas-guzzling vehicle, dressed in a flannel shirt, boots, jeans & camo baseball cap munching on Doritos like it was his job. It just struck me as funny.... and country. Too bad I didn't capture that one on film.

Who needs cups?

It hit me today that I am living the ultimate bachlorette life. The activity was drinking milk straight from the jug to wash down the chocolate after a scrumptious hot dog & cheezit meal eaten at 9:00 pm. Who needs a cup when you can get it straight from the jug? There have been a few times I didn't bother to sit down when eating due to not wanting to cook for one (or having the supplies to do so even if I would have wanted to) and was rushing out the door to some random event. Even if I don't have time, I do my best not to eat over the sink. It usually has some gross food waste and I just can't forget that Mahu -- the first cat I actually liked, most of the time -- peed in it. Many bleachings and cleanings later I just can't quite let it go.

So the toe is not broken. It happened about a week and a half ago and its feeling much better. I'm probably using it more than I should thus why its still a bit chubby/swollen but the discoloration didn't last long. Phew!

If anyone doesn't find coaching as youth ministry, they've got another thing coming. I'm not the most compassionate person; I do my fair share of raising of the voice and at times focus too much on the sport itself. [When I was coaching the elementary soccer kids I literally had to bite my tongue from telling a whiney 8 year old to 'suck it up'.] But what keeps me coming back is the players. Its tough to maintain focus but I know the season will be more meaningful and glorifying to God if I can ask Him to help me invest, relationally, in these kids lives. Its really cool that the other coaches are Christians too.

Summer staff have all left. Sad. Transition season is upon us once again. Not sure how I feel. It is nice to have things back in place. Its a bit quieter around here. Lonlier too. But the 'in your face-ness' of summer camp is replaced by time to get involved in the new church I started attending, coaching, prepping for upcoming retreats, Bible studies and random mini-roadtrips. Hmmm, fall. Its almost here! :)

Suspicious Discoloration

Its that time of the year folks... high school fall sports!! W00t! So I'm super excited about this season. I don't know what it is but I just love being around the game of soccer and with the combination of our awesome girls at lil ole Halifax HS makes me love to pull on the smelly cleats, whistle in hand and run around like I'm one of them. the girls didn't appreciate their pic being taken at 8 am haha but they are all so beautiful. Coach K-mart got into the action this week. Got a ball taken from me and in my shock to recover quickly from this rare occasion, ended up - somehow - kicking the ground as I lunged to lessen the humiliation. The result was this show on my toe of the Violet end of the rainbow spectrum. This suspicious discoloration could possibly be my first broken bone. But I'm walking on it and what would the docs do for a broken toe anyway? So if it is indeed my first broken bone, I guess we'll never know.

Chances are this season will include some excitment so check back in for future updates.

Trekking the AT mid-point

The week of July 27 - Aug 1 I had the awesome priviledge of hiking 40+ miles of the Appalachian Trail. We had 4 campers and 3 staff. By the second night of camping we realized that this was just plain fun. More the camping/hanging out and eating than the hiking. We all had trail names, mine being O'PAK due to the abundance of food I packed -- oops. But-- for my fellow hiking-inclined friends -- know that food doesn't taste as good as it does on the trail. Our final night out led to the making of a large vat of hot chocolate which included 20 some odd packets of choclately goodness. Hmmm, there is so much to say but pictures say it best.