honey, i'm home, and overwhelmed.

all right, all right. i know it's been a few days, but i've been very busy. i'm actually not able to write much of anything right now either. it's the first week of school at rmu, and i've been with my students a whole bunch. also, my middle schoolers will be here within the hour for our kick-off event. my parents will be here by eight to visit (yay!), and i have to finish my ministry plan for the year and turn it in by eleven tomorrow morning. i have much to say about this past weekend in GR, and plenty has happened already since i've been back. for now, please pray for:

• my friend khadija's family, who live in new orleans and are quite sure that their home has been completely destroyed by hurricane katrina.
• my grandfather, who has been hospitalized yet again with congestive heart failure.
• shawn, one of my eighth-graders, who broke his foot.
• chris and jessika white (my cco co-workers), whose newborn baby girl, emily ruth, died 20 minutes after birth on friday.
• my friend anne who has (hopefully safely) arrived in bethlehem in palestine, where she will be working for the next year.

there are a few more things to deal with, and i'll write more about them later. okay. that's it for now.

home sweet home

i am just about to leave the office for the weekend... full-tron and i are leaving this evening, which will bring us to g-rap in the wee hours of the morning. i can't wait to see my family and all my friends. it has been quite long enough since i've been back. i'm sure i'll come back to PA exhausted and a bit unprepared to begin another year of campus ministry. i was on campus today, personing the campus ministry association table at the first-year student orientation. it reminded me of my days on orientation board ("i am calvin college"), and i very much enjoyed myself. i'm glad to have the students back on campus, and i'm getting very excited about my second year here. hopefully this fall i'll look like i know what i'm doing, and i won't be mistaken for a first-year student. i'm a college graduate! i am not seventeen years old! i will say that i wish i was taking classes. i may be a nerd, perhaps, but i do love me some school. the cooler weather and the buzzing excitement of move-in day makes me want to go buy school supplies, strap on my backpack, and skip off to class. unfortunately, this does not appear to be in the cards for me at this moment in time.
i did get to take some classes this summer, which was fantabulous. walking around campus with a bag full of books makes me quite nostalgic for the good ol' days. however, grad school does afford me the luxury of taking only classes i am quite interested in, and avoiding the killer 8:35 a.m. lecture on as*tronomy or communication theory. those always made me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit.
anyhow, enough of this for now. it is time to go get penny's oil changed so she won't growl at me all the way across ohio. oh penny, how i love thee. please be good.
adios, and see (some of) you tomorrow!

nicknames

hey hey...
i need some help. i don't know if anyone is going to read this today, but i am planning part of youth group for tonight, and i need to remember some old nicknames that people have called me in the past. if you can remember any (appropriate) nicknames you've called me, can you leave them here? NOTE: these are to share with my middle schoolers, so i don't need any of the simpsons nicknames, or any BT references, or any of the "sukky" series. thanks guys! do it right now please... i only have a few hours!

newsflash

in order to bid adieu to one james king, the full monty and i will spend this friday through sunday in grand rapids. we anticipate much merry-making and ballyhoo. plan your weekends accordingly.

numa numa

i am at jess and erin's house in shadyside right now, and i'm supposed to be hanging out with all my friends. BUT, we have just been enjoying the following website, and i wanted to share it with you: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/206373 .
go to the site, and click the "watch this movie" link. i suggest you watch it with subtitles. fanTAStic. adios.

super heroes never sleep

it has been a long night. we had the middle school lock-in at church last night, starting at nine p.m. and ending this morning at nine. the last of the students just went home, and i am exhausted. it was a super hero theme, and the kids were required to come in costume. some of the them were quite ingenious; my favorite was captain useless. she had no super powers, but she came complete with a belt full of things that no one would ever want, such as an gum wrapper, broken glasses, and an old toothbrush. i gave her a prize. at four a.m. i told them it was lights out, and they were quite quiet, suprisingly. however, a number of them never went to sleep at all. it just so happens that these ones were camped out in the center aisle of the sanctuary, two and a half feet from me. i don't know how much sleep i was planning to get stretched out in my sleeping bag on a pew, but i am not what you might call well-rested. however, i would say everything went very well. there was a lot of sardines, hide and seek tag, invisible ball, pizza, mountain dew, mafia, and the incredibles. i sometimes forget how fun those games can be. plus, no one died, or even got hurt. (after a year in youth ministry, this is how i now measure the success of an evening.) a good time was had by all. and now, to bed. i plan to sleep all day, and perhaps rise in time to go out tonight. sweet dreams.
before i go... a quick poll: what was your favorite childhood/adolescent game?

mischa barton is in beaver falls!

i've just received word that mischa barton, better known as marissa cooper on our beloved "the o.c.," is in beaver falls, a mere 40 minutes from me, and just a few blocks from one sarah e. fuller. according to our friend and co-worker marshall, who has physically seen her, she is here filming a bank robbery scene for some new movie. she is apparently quite pale and wearing a very short skirt. (suprise, suprise.) anyhow, i can't really believe they're filming anything in beaver falls, except maybe someday some michael moore film about what happens when you outsource a community's industry overseas. (beaver falls is a dilapidated old steel town, in some ways resembling the ghost towns out west left by the gold miners back in the day.) so anyway, that's the news, hot off the press from western pennsylvania.
o.c. season 3 countdown: 23 days
oh sweet bliss.

face down in the mud

oh justin, how i miss you. see you at the five year.

that's all, folks.

weekend update, or "this one goes out to the tailgaters"

and she's back! keep your pants on.... this might be a long one.
here goes the weekend recap:
on thursday night, i got to enjoy two of my favorite things: coldplay and jonathan ryskamp. coldplay was in town playing at the post-gazette pavilion. they are one of my favorite bands, and one i'd never seen before. we headed down early to stake out good seats on the lawn and had a tailgate picnic in the parking lot. we ran into some fellow calvin people who were in town for various reasons and played a bit of the dutch bingo (one of my favorite games). then we went in and spread out our blankets on the muddy lawn. not to worry... our luck improved. the concert was fantastic for a few reasons: a) though we paid for lawn seats, someone came around passing out extra tickets for under the pavilion. therefore, i enjoyed the band from my very own non-mud-puddle seat in the shade, at no extra cost. 2) as aforementioned, one jonathan ryskamp was in town for the day, picking up young heffner to go to maine. i was very excited to see him, and he is one of my favorite people to go to concerts with. d) they played all my favorites, with the exception of "trouble." it was a great show, and a very entertaining performance. 4) chris martin, lead singer, guitarist, and piano player, rocks back and forth on his stool while playing the piano. i loved it. and he dedicated "everything's not lost" to the tailgaters... and ben roethlisberger.
after the show there was an ill-advised trip to eat'n park that lasted into the not-so-wee hours of the morning. since the ryskake was leaving the next day, i had to go. it was fun, but that jerk sprayed water all over my shirt. (you're lucky i love you, jacksma.) plus we think the waiter may have been high. i crawled into my bed at 3:15, a mere three hours before i had to get up. unfortunately, due to the two cups of coffee i drank at the eat'n park, i couldn't sleep. so after tossing and turning for three hours, i got up again and went to work.
why did i get up so early, you might ask? i know, it goes against my very nature. but alas, there was work to be done. i took my middle schoolers across the bridge to sewickley on friday morning to volunteer at worldvision for the day. i can't begin to count how many t-shirts from various catholic schools i sorted, folded, and packed in boxes. at one point, i got a little jealous of the next table over, who were sorting plaid school girl uniforms, kilts, and jaunty vests, until i realized they had to figure out some special codes for packing their out-of-the-ordinary clothing. so i went back to work. it was a little difficult keeping a bunch of middle schoolers motivated to keep working after three hours of folding sweatpants from our lady of fatima, but all in all, we had a good day. i was very proud of them.
after that was over, i went home and crashed. i previewed the incredibles for our lock-in this weekend, and incredible it was. then i went to bed at 10 o'clock, which i haven't done since the seventh grade.
mary kay and pad thai:
saturday i slept in (fantastic) and then cleaned my house and went to a mary kay party. three hours later, lo and behold, my skin was soft and exfoliated. so kristi, porterhouse, full-time, megan piersma, eric and sarah plantinga, and sarah's family went out for dinner at the spice island tea house, or the spice island of pleasure café, as we sometimes like to call it. almost all of us got the pad thai and loved it. yum.
a-picnicing we go:
today we had an outdoor service at church which was lovely but hot, and a picnic afterward. i have to go shopping after i leave here to buy avocados to make guacamole for the other picnic i'm going to tonight. it's for the cco staff in pittsburgh, and i think it will be fun-filled and fraught with laughter and merry-making. and lots of guacamole.
and finally, crappy cell phone update:
I HAVE ACTIVATED MY NEW PHONE! YAY! i'm finally done with the crappy old phone. the number is the same, so call me so i have your number in the pretty new shiny one.
if you're still reading, wow. okay. time to let you get back to your regularly scheduled life.

the monkey's getting married

i've just received an email that says that thomas j. clark, my dear friend and fellow RA in schultze-eldersveld, has been betrothed! i couldn't be happier for him and his fiancee, ruth. tom has been in love with ruth since the good ol' days in SE in 02-03, and now that they are engaged, he claims to be "the happiest man on the planet for a time, times, and half a time." cheers to you, tom and ruth van essen-clark. best of luck to you.
these are the lyrics to adam sandler's "growing old with you." normally, adam sandler=poor taste, but i heard this at another wedding this summer and loved it. so, this is for the happy couple:

I wanna make you smile, whenever you're sad
carry you around when your arthritis is bad
all I want to do is grow old with you

I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches
build you a fire when the furnace breaks
oh it could be so nice growing old with you

I'll miss you, kiss you, give you my coat when you are cold
need you, feed you, even let you hold the remote control

Let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
put you to bed when you've had to much to drink

I could be the man who grows old with you
I wanna grow old with you

when it don't come easy....

i'm in my office, killing time for a few minutes before my new senior high youth leaders get here to discuss the godbearing life, which is the book i'm making them read (a. because it's excellent, and 2. because i can make them read things if i want to. that's my job.) i'm listening to patty griffin, who i love. a few months ago, my dear friend anya sent me the lyrics to "when it don't come easy," and it will forever make me think of her. as she is leaving this week for her new job, this is for her. and also, this is a picture of anya and i driving into the city when she and oofie came out to visit in march.

Red lights are flashing on a highway
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home                                 
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight
Everywhere the water's getting rough
Your best intentions may not be enough                                  
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight                     
But if you break down, I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love, I'll try to remind you
I'll stay by you when it don't come easy
When it don't come easy

I don't know nothing except change will come
Year after year what we do is undone
Time gets moving from a crawl to a run
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home

You're out there walking down a highway
And all of the signs got blown away
Sometimes you wonder if you're walking in the wrong direction

But if you break down, I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love, I'll try to remind you
I'll stay by you when it don't come easy
When it don't come easy

So many things that I've had before
They don't matter to me now
Tonight I cry for the love that I've lost
And the love I've never found
And when the last bird falls and the last siren sounds
Someone will say what's been said before
It's only love that we're looking for

When you break down, I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love, I'll try to remind you
And stay by you when it don't come easy
When it don't come easy

i heart you, an.  remember the children.  :)

ugggggh

wow. consistent blogging is a big responsibility. i don't have time for this right now. penny and i are going into the city. good day to you.

jail break

this isn't a real post... but i just got done with promiseland, the elementary program i run at the church, and i love these kids! this picture is from a few months ago. the lesson was about joseph in jail. so cute. okay, that's all, folks!

cellamaphonesmas

crappy cell phone update:
i am about to retire my nokia cell phone. ever since the unfortunate incident at thanksgiving ("KHADIJA!!!!") when my phone shattered into a thousand pieces on my kitchen floor, i've been looking forward to this day. (granted, some might say i have abused my phone. but there have been countless other times when my phone has leapt from my purse onto the pavement. as i've been saying for months, my phone hates me.) the screen is cracked, the antenna is broken, and the back cover has been fastened to the phone with scotch tape since november. lately, the battery has been holding its charge for approximately twelve minutes, even after a full night's charge. therefore, i've decided to get rid of it. unfortunately, my old contract is not up until the 13th. so, even though my new cell phone arrived on tuesday, it will cost me $150 in early termination fees if i activate it before next week. boo. so, my shiny new flip phone is packed neatly in its box where i can't be tempted to play with it. oh, cingular, with your rollover minutes and your pretty graphics... how i love thee.
p.s. i've selected the windmills wallpaper in tribute to the dutch. yay!

in other news, my baby sister and her best friend liz are currently making the trek through the void that is ohio, on their way to come see me! i'm very excited to play with them and show them the wonders of pittsburgh. i'm not sure exactly what we'll do... perhaps we'll go to the hookah bar on the southside. i can't get anyone to go there anymore. i think they'd both enjoy it. and there's always ikea! anyhow, here is a picture of the two of them at tracy's wedding in june. (i've decided that i need to post more pictures. it's starting to look boring.) all righty then. back to work.

the munchkins

hello again. sorry about the lack of posts. (and nate, it wouldn't kill you to post either.) i have been in ohio since sunday, masquerading as a camp counselor for small children. i had been told that there would be internet access, but it turns out that was a lie. however, much to my surprise, church camp was really fun! those of you who know me well (or went through RA training with me, or went on the OB trip with JB "i love peeing on trees" britton...) know how much disdain i feel for rustic experiences. but, i had a really good time! turns out there is a bit of camper in me after all. i can do the cabins with the rusty bunk beds and the eight-year-olds who need a nightlight. i can kill the wolf spiders in the corner and herd my campers to the vespers service out in the woods. i can do cabin inspections and group games. i can even listen to children scream, "katherine! watch me do a flip off the diving board!" for hours at a time. plus i discovered that i can swim with a nine-year-old on my back, an eight-year-old in my arms, and three small boys splashing overly-chlorinated water in my eyes without losing my temper. (but i did let someone else catch the mouse in the dining hall and get the frog out of the pool. you can't change everything.) i actually enjoyed myself. i've been spending a lot of time reminiscing about my own camp experiences as a child. i idolized my counselors. they had a pretty big effect on me and on my spiritual development, and i'm actually really glad that i could be that person for my campers this week. i guess i finally understand what all you ligonier people have been talking about for the past five years. who woulda thunk it?
but anyhow, i wanted to check in. i'm back at work today, playing catch up and enjoying the air conditioning. i've got a lot to do, and i better get to it.
spiders and smores,
sikky