Life is what happens when you're busy doing things

So I haven't been much of a blogger lately. Lots of great LIFE going on. So I'll ramble on a bit to catch up on the activities of life.

On Aug 20 I got my eyes altered with a laser! LASIK eye surgery worked for me. One eye is just slightly not as clear as the other (20/20 v 25/20) but I have to keep reminding myself it really happened. Quality of life is so much simpler and therefore better. Now I can roll out of bed and into my day in 4 minutes 23 seconds versus the 6 minute routine it took to reach around trying to find my glasses so I wouldn't stumble on things, or the 10 minute routine to get the contacts in with discomfort at coaxing the foreign object in. I went backpacking over Labor Day weekend and my pack was so LITE without glasses, glasses case, contacts, contact case and solution. ;) My eyes still get dry & tired after being open all day by the evening but what a good reason to go to bed.

The wonderful and exciting Becky Thomasson came for a visit over Labor Day (who was my trail partner). Yay for good friends despite the many miles that separate us. All 650 miles of it. An interesting comment that she made was that with most of her friends she is the daring, outgoing one stretching her friends to do crazy things. But she said that is not the case in our friendship. (I'm her outdoor adventure friend). She tells me this as we are hiking at 9:30 pm at night, in the dark, moonlit sky on the Appalachain Trail looking for a campsite and only seconds later she falls off the trail with a squealch. I assumed the worst and chastise myself for being a horrid friend and an unsafe adventure leader. Thankfully, just one foot slipped off the trailwhilst she landed on the trail. We found a campsite ASAP and bedded down for the night. Besides a snake slithering right between my feet as I was in mid-stride, the remainder of our ridge running adventure was limited to a delightful campfire complete with s'mores, wonderful conversations and getting lost in the woods in briers nonetheless trying to find a trial that Kendra 'had taken before' as a "shortcut" back to camp. Friends are true friends when they love you inspite of adverse circumstances.

I'm training for a 10K race. Technically the race is the Harrisburg Marathon but I got together a relay team to split the 26 miles between 4 of us. We are raising funds for new playground equipment at Camp. Our Team's Website Help us reach our goal! The team is my big bro Kirby (he's a beast and enjoys running in trail races), Chris Schulze (Alpha Male) and his lovely fiance' Andrea Peters (currently in med school - you go!). I'm a bit apprehensive about slowing the team down but the runs have been feeling better and better.

As mentioned in the last post, I'm also coaching soccer. The season opener was not too pretty ending in a lose and our starting keeper breaking her tibia & fibula at the ankle resulting in surgery to put a plate and 9 screws in but the girls have since recovered and started a nice winning streak. All the sports teams a Halifax are getting hit with injuries and we're tired of it!

Planning all kinds of retreats. Just finished up a senior citizens week. Next year I think my introduction will begin as follows. "Hello, I'm Kendra. I'll be your token granddaughter, feel free to dote. Let me set the record straight that I am single and not getting married in the foreseeable future. At this point, the horizons are clear with nothing cooking. Thank you." I lost count how many times I was asked that question. Sorry to disappoint!

Journey group (a.k.a. small group) began tonight. I'm looking forward to getting to know more people from church in a deeper more personal setting and growing spiritually. I'm co-leading the group not because I think I have much to impart on others but more to stretch myself and have a good reason to be accountable to studying and making faith & bible study more of a priority.

Well... I'm sitting out side because the wifi on camp (CAN U BELIEVE IT'S FINALLY HERE!!??!!!?!?) doesn't work inside the house yet. This could get REAL annoying come winter time. The fingers are cold and the eyes are dry so that makes it time for bed.

God Bless!

just call me coach

Yet another beautiful fall season is here and that means time for soccer. There are quite a few soccer games I would love to get out and watch and its going to be difficult to get to any of them. But just in case any of you out there would like to see Coach Kendra in action, here is the Halifax girls soccer schedule. Last year, after just 5 seasons, the team won the Schuylkill League for the first time. They are looking quite good with potential to represent again. Home games are played on the athletic field [3940 Peters Mountain Rd, Halifax, PA 17032-9505]. The first times are when JV plays (I sort of head coach them during the games) and Varsity plays during the second time listed (I am the assistant coach).

Sept 9 - Home vs Tamaqua, JV/Varsity 5:30, 7 pm
Sept 12 - Home vs Schuylkill Haven, JV/V 11:30, 10 am
Sept 14 - Away @ Pottsville, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Sept 16 - Away @ Pine Grove, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Sept 17 - Home vs Line Mountain, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Sept 22 - Home vs North Schuylkill, JV/V 5:30/ 7 PM
Sept 23 - Away @ Jim Thorpe, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Sept 26 - Home vs Upper Dauphin, JV/V 11:30, 10 am
Sept 29 - Away @ Tamaqua, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Oct 1 - Away @ Schuylkill Haven, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Oct 3 - Home vs Juniata, JV/V 11:30, 10 am
Oct 6 - Home vs Pottsville, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Oct 8 - Home vs Pine Grove, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Oct 10 - Away @ North Schuylkill, JV/V 11:30, 10 am
Oct 12 - Away @ Millersburg, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Oct 14 - Home vs Jim Thorpe, V 5:30 pm
Oct 15 - Home vs East Juniata, JV/V 5:30, 7 pm
Oct 17 - Away @ Upper Dauphin, JV/V 11:30, 10 am
Oct 20 - Semi Final League Game @ Pine Grove
Oct 24 - League Championship Game @ Tri Valley

Not my favorite day in China

I truly did have a Tony-the-Tiger-Grrreat time in China. I echo Chad's blog. Beijing was especially pretty in April with blooming trees and beautiful parks. I traveled down a day early by myself to meet up with my college friend Kate whom I shared many quality Virginia days enjoying the outdoors with. She is teaching in TainJin, a city just a 30 minute train ride from Beijing. The trip on my 4 hour fast and reliable train to Beijing from Shenyang was enjoyable and entertaining. While I have some stories from it, it was relatively uneventful. I met Kate and we ate a yummy Persian meal with some of her co-workers. She helped me connect with other friends of a friend who graciously hosted me and took me to church with them the next day. It was wonderful meeting Joy & Tazz (from America & South Africa respectively) and making new friends. Travel is fun for such things. Joy makes SCRUMPtious coffee cake and their insider's guide to the city made me probably too confident in my ability to be a tourist.

After attending an international church service we were eating Easter Sunday lunch at Domino's Pizza (someone reminded me half way into a delicious slice of Hawaiian pizza that I was eating pizza and missing grandma's cooking.. sad). Let me back up to say that never before had a so wished my camera had sound on its little video recording as when we walked in the door. One thing I have heard in general about Chinese is that they like it to be noisy when eating... guess it shows people are enjoying themselves. So the music was blasting! in the restaurant. The song of choice -- Frosty the Snowman!!! True story! I looked at Joy (who's been living in China about 3 or 5 years for an explanation) who shrugged and said, "Well, they know its a holiday." HAHHA. Beautiful.

After lunch I struck off on my own to meet up with friends who work at a Christian camp in New Jersey who happened to be in China the same exact time I was. Long frustrating story made short, the China Mobile phone I'd borrowed from the team ran out of minutes and I gave up hope of finding them. So I decided to go in search of the hostel the team and I would be staying at that evening. With 4 hours until I had to meet the team at the train station I sat down outside the subway and got out a city map to try to figure out where to the hostel. Just as I got out target #3 (target 2 being my backpack and target 1 being my white skin) these friendly Chinese young people came along offering to help me. They were friendly, I didn't know where I was going and I had a few hours I didn't know what I was going to do with. We conversed a bit and one gal even knew some Cantonese.

They were students studying in Beijing and asked if I had time to view their exhibit. I eagerly agreed thinking, this will be a cool story. We went a few streets away, into a building, up an elevator and came upon some art work. I do really like Chinese artwork on scrolls. I'm not much of a gusher but I did my best to look around, comment on different pieces and act impressed. Then it hit me, "Crap, I'm going to have to buy something." It started getting awkward as they all followed me around and stared at me. I hadn't bought much yet so I didn't have a good sense of what a rip off would be but when the one gal started offering me "deals" I wasn't too amazed. Another awkward half hour went by with them giving me some water and me looking at sketches trying to figure out what to do. Awful. I purchased some artwork and then made them take me to the door of the hostel. If I had to give them this much money, no cruddy map they'd drawn would do for directions. Oh, and another guy in their group conveniently was a 'travel agent' and gave me his contact info if we decided we wanted to go see the great wall while visiting Beijing. Greeeat.

With still some time before going to meet Stacy & the team I explored the hostel. When it was time to head to the train station I used the bathroom... and read this... " WARNING: Beware of poeple approaching you on the streets claiming to be students or artists. They will often offer to give you a tour, show you an shop or take you to a tea house. They will tell you these services are free but in the end you will be asked to pay a huge price and threatened with the police if you do not pay. They are often very friendly and convincing so many tourists have been easily fooled. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! Enjoy your stay at WangFuJing Hostel."

I have never felt so violated in my life! Let's just say that I didn't give anyone the time of day as I traveled to and from the hostel to collect my friends and I was SOOOOO glad to have the comfort of their company. Now I understand why the Lord instructed the disciples to travel in pairs. It took a few days for me to process that incident. And I still can't quite enjoy the artwork without feelings of, I don't even know what, but a story I do have. And a memory of my not-so-favorite day in China.